Professor Joshi's Empathy-Driven Robotic Arm Wins J C Bose Memorial Award

Keyur Joshi, Assistant Professor at the School of Engineering and Applied Science​​​​​​, Ahmedabad University, has been honoured with the IETE – J C Bose Memorial Award for his paper “Design and Development of a Low-cost Vision-based 6 DOF Assistive Feeding Robot for the Aged and Specially Abled People”, published in the IETE Journal of Research, February 2024. The award, presented by The Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) during its 68th Annual Convention in Chandigarh, celebrates significant research with real-world engineering impact.

The project addresses a pressing need, enabling elderly and specially-abled individuals to feed themselves with greater autonomy. Existing assistive robotic arms often struggle with precision, resulting in spillage and food wastage. Professor Joshi’s work solves this by designing an indigenous, 3D-printed, six-degree-of-freedom robotic arm equipped with an Intel® depth camera and an intelligent multi-controller system combining fuzzy, fractional, and genetic-algorithm-optimised control techniques.

“We wanted to make robotics more humane, something that supports daily dignity,” says Professor Joshi. “That meant developing a system that could move smoothly, predict, and respond like a human arm.”

By deploying different controllers at different stages of motion, such as Fuzzy Controller for initial movement, GA-optimised FOPID for mid-trajectory correction, and FPID for final precision, Professor Joshi achieved accurate results, reducing overshoot to 0.67 per cent and ensuring minimal positional error. The system was successfully tested on 20 users across 25 feeding cycles, confirming repeatability and safety.

Beyond its technical excellence, this work represents an important step toward affordable and socially relevant assistive robotics in India. “We are designing for inclusivity,” Professor Joshi notes. “Technology should be able to empower them.”

The J C Bose Memorial Award, named after the revolutionary scientist Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, recognises innovation with practical engineering applications and Professor Joshi’s work exemplifies that spirit, merging precision engineering with compassion to enhance independent living.

To know more about his work, read the paper here