"Garmi" on the big stage: Care robots are to present the winner's trophies at the Ski World Cup
Created: 01/28/2022, 06:30
By: Christian Fellner
High-tech in Werdenfelser Land: "Garmi" care robot with TU employees (from left) Djallil Naceri, Matthias Richter and Mario Troebinger.
Every action of the robot is programmed © Kornatz
World premiere at the World Cup?
If the weather is right, the nursing robot from the Garmisch-Partenkirchen geriatronics researchers will present the trophies to the fastest women this weekend after the Kandahar races.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
– The organizers of the Ski World Cup in Garmisch-Partenkirchen have already presented an innovation with a 40 meter wide LED wall as a show effect and for communication with the athletes.
They still have a second spectacular element up their sleeve: the dress rehearsal for this took place on Thursday in the Kandahar finish area.
"Garmi", the care robot from the ranks of the geriatronics research center of the Technical University of Munich in the market town, is to hand over the trophies at the weekend.
"That has never happened before," emphasizes Florian Fischer, the chairman of the World Cup Organizing Committee, euphorically.
"The FIS also thinks the campaign is really cool." There is only one catch: "Garmi has never been outside."
Of course, the organizers from SC Garmisch would like to be able to present such a world first, and the researchers around Professor Dr.
Sami Haddadin, head of the geriatronics unit, is looking forward to such an assignment.
But there are two components that could make the project fail: the weather and the technology.
The weather is the main criterion for using “Garmi”
The weather on the race days is the main criterion. "Even if everything is technically in order, one thing is very clear: If we have precipitation or it's too humid, we can't do it," emphasizes Dr. Stephen Thiel. Because the technology in such a sophisticated robot is very sensitive. "Outside is not inside," emphasizes the program manager. “Everything works in the laboratory.” The researchers cannot and do not want to take any risks. "Garmi is too expensive for that."
Thiel tries to explain the problem: "You have to program every action of the robot, tell Garmi what it should do." If the external conditions change, certain positions are no longer correct.
“In layman's terms, one could imagine that certain materials contract when it's cold.
Of course, that's not exactly the case with a highly developed robot," says Thiel, "but the effect is similar."
Joints or engines could react slightly differently - with the unedifying result that certain processes are no longer correct.
And of course you don't want to dish up pictures of a trophy slipping away from the robot.
An attempt is also marketing for geriatrics research at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen site
After all, the experts at the Technical University of Munich also see this experiment as marketing for their project. "Garmi" is intended to support people in many activities in the field of care and medicine in the future. "That would be a kind of sign that everything is possible," emphasizes Thiel, the municipal councilor of the Greens parliamentary group. "A kind of gag with a serious background." The Corona crisis alone has shown how important it is often to be able to take care of people, but ideally even without direct contact with the patient.
Handing over the trophies would be a first step in presenting "Garmi" to a broader public.
Mario Tröbinger, Matthias Richter, Djallil Naceri, Hamid Sadeghian and Xiao Chen have been working on implementing the idea since December.
"From a technical point of view, we are very confident," said Thiel.
But there are some imponderables.
And they are mainly hidden behind external influences.
“Garmi, for example, is very sensitive to touch.
What do we do when a skier wants to hug him?” asks Thiel and laughs.
In any case, the final okay will only be given in the short term, even if everyone involved would only too much like to have this first big effort on such a stage as at the Ski World Cup.