Dining robots significantly enhance the quality of life for individuals with upper limb motor impairments by enabling autonomous feeding. This paper systematically reviewed the technological evolution and representative products in this field, with a focused analysis of key technologies including kinematic modeling, trajectory planning, and intelligent control. Future development trends were also discussed, highlighting the need for innovative structural designs, optimized human-robot interaction, and deeper multi-source sensory fusion to advance the field toward more precise and human-like robotic feeding systems.
An auxiliary dining robot is designed in this paper, which implements the humanoid feeding function with theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) theory and aims at the demand of special auxiliary nursing equipment. Firstly, this robot simulated the motion function of human arm by using the tandem joints of the manipulator. The end-effector used a motor-driven spoon to simulate the feeding actions of human hand. Meanwhile, the eye in hand installation style was adopted to instead the human vision to realize its automatic feeding action. Moreover, the feeding and drinking actions of the dining robot were considered comprehensively with the flexibility of spatial movement under the lowest degree of freedom (DOF) configuration. The structure of the dining robot was confirmed by analyzing its stresses and discussing the specific application scenarios under this condition. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate high-flexibility of the dining robot in the workspace with lowest DOF configuration.
