This video is pretty cool. The DORA or Door Opening Robotic Arm was developed right here in the Robotics Lab at UMass Lowell. Hey, why don’t I just let them describe it themselves…

Low-cost wheelchair-mounted Door Opening Robotic Arm (DORA)

This video demonstrates the final product of Erin Rapacki’s master’s thesis work at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

“Wheelchair-mounted robot arms are designed with many degrees of freedom to provide users with a general purpose device for manipulating many of the objects necessary for activities of daily living. However, these commercially available systems are quite expensive and are usually not funded by insurance. A low cost robot arm system is developed that will increase a person’s accessibility to indoor spaces by unlatching door knobs and door handles. Implemented is a minimized arm configuration for use with a wheelchair or mobile platform and a gripper design that utilizes only a single motor to turn door knobs and door handles. This proof of concept prototype demonstrates how an arm with many degrees of freedom is not required if we target the expectations for its use.”