NT Robot (www.ntrobot.net) was established in 2004 with a focus on medical and rehabilitative robots under a business philosophy of ‘Human-Robot Symbiosis’. The company provides hospitals and the bio-pharmaceutical industry with clean and sterilized robots, delivery robots, chemotherapy compounding robots, and surgical scrubs dispenser and receiver robots. They also supply a wearable walking assist robot, wearable walking rehabilitation robot, and a wheelchair mountable robotic arm.

▲Israel’s ReWalk Robotics’ ‘ReWalk Rehabilitation 2.0’

NT Robot has partnered with an overseas company to bring rehabilitative robots to Korea, while also actively working to develop their own in-house robots. Israel’s ReWalk Robotics’ ‘ReWalk Rehabilitation 2.0’ and ‘ReWalk Personal 6.0’ received certification from the Korea Ministry of Health and Welfare for assistive devices and the KC certification needed to sell these products in Korea.

▲NT Robot Integrated Mobile Assisted Robot

NT Robot is also pursuing the development of its own in-house rehabilitative robots. The company is developing a new concept system combining a wheelchair and a wearable robot for the severely mobility impaired. Also, in collaboration with Enable, Yonsei University’s RST Lab, Korea Spinal Cord Injury Association, and Seocho Support Center for People with Disabilities, the company is in the midst of developing a ‘Symbiotic Mobility Aid Robot System (SMARS)’ to support the severely mobility challenged in their daily lives. By applying the technology used to develop the wearable walk assist robot for Spinal cord injury patients (ReWalk) and upper and lower muscle augmentation robot (RoboWear), NT Robot is working in partnership with the cutting edge motorized wheelchair company, Enable, to develop SMARS, with NT Robot leading its production. The company jointly researched and conducted usability tests with RST Lab at Yonsei University; Korea Spinal Cord Injury Association and Seocho Support Center for People with Disabilities will each provide test bed assessments.

NT Robot has also developed a meal aid robot (CareMeal) for those who have difficulty feeding themselves, such as the handicapped or elderly. The two-arm robot consists of a 5-axis grab arm that picks up food on the plate and a 3-axis spoon arm that brings food to the mouth. After usability evaluations, the company is looking to commercialize this product for use in hospitals, nursing homes, and private use.

▲Curling Robot

NT Robot is pursuing not only medical rehabilitation robots but other robot fields as well. In particular, with support from the Ministry of Science and ICT, the company successfully completed the first development stage of their curling robot. The company formed a consortium composed of Korea University, UNIST and others to use artificial intelligence to develop the optimal curling stone throwing strategy for the AI curling SW called ‘CurlBrain’ and AI curling robot ‘Curly’. The AI Curling SW CurlBrain took first place at the AI Curling SW Competitions last November, which was attended by 10 universities including Tokyo University, Tohoku University, Hokkaido University in Japan, and Korea University in Korea. Its superior performance was also enough to clinch the top prize at the competitive exhibition that opened this March. This year, the company plans to finish a sweeper robot that can sweep the ice with a curling broom. Through these efforts, the company hopes to improve the performance level so that it is on par with professional curlers.

▲7-axis Robot Arm ‘RoMAN 7’

NT Robot has also developed the 7-axis robot arm ‘RoMAN 7’. RoMAN 7 is a 7-axis robot weighing 29kg, with a maximum range of 922mm. The configuration of the robot arm is a humanoid one – similar to that of a human arm when fully extended. It is different from the structure of the collaborative robots that are currently popular both within and outside of Korea. Attaching RoMAN 7 to a body will result in a two-armed robot.

RoMAN 7 has a motor and a control board on each axis, which are connected via CAN communication. Home operation (homing) is unnecessary, as it uses an absolute encoder. The position, torque, and current of each axis can be controlled, so a variety of control algorithms can be applied.

▲NT Robot's Exhibition Booth at Gasan Digital Complex Station (line 7)

In addition, NT Robot is in plans to bring the French humanoid robot ‘Nao’ to Korea. The company is also running an exhibition at Gasan Digital Complex Station (line 7) to show the Nao Robot and their sterilized robot.