Promoting Innovation in Albania

This project, based in Tirana, Albania, aims to promote innovation through the creation of a makerspace community, a space where people with creative ideas for new products can find the tools to develop them. A makerspace provides its members with resources such as prototyping tools, and a collaborative working atmosphere. This is much needed in Albania, since we found that students there often mention a lack of hands-on experience in their education. We worked with our local sponsor, Protik ICT Resource Center, to establish the makerspace and to plan future projects. We developed recommendations based on our work mentoring students in the Young Innovators Club and participating in Startup Weekend Tirana

HERO Glove

Non-repetitive manipulation tasks that are easy for humans to perform are difficult for autonomous robots to execute. The Haptic Exoskeletal Robot Operator (HERO) Glove is a system designed for users to remotely control robot manipulators whilst providing sensory feedback to the user. This realistic haptic feedback is achieved through the use of toroidal air-filled actuators that stiffen up around the user’s fingers. Tactile sensor data is sent from the robot to the HERO Glove, where it is used to vary the pressure in the toroidal actuators to simulate the sense of touch. Curvature sensors and inertial measurement units are used to capture the glove’s pose to control the robot