A Pivot-Based Kirigami Utensil for Hand-Held and Robot-Assisted Feeding

A research team from Virginia Tech, led by Dylan P. Losey, has published a paper on arXiv detailing a novel 'kiri-spoon' designed to address the daily challenge of eating for over 60 million adults with essential tremors, Parkinson's, and other mobility limitations. The key innovation is a pivot-based kirigami design, developed in collaboration with stakeholders, that allows the utensil to behave like a pair of pliers. Users squeeze the handles to actively change the shape of the utensil's head, enabling it to securely enclose food morsels and prevent accidental spills. This dual-functionality allows it to act as both a spoon for scooping and a fork for pinching, adapting to different food types.

A major highlight of the design is its accessibility and versatility. The hand-held version consists of just four 3D-printed parts that snap together, making it simple and inexpensive to produce. By adding a servo motor, the same kinematic structure can be adapted for robot-assisted feeding systems, bridging a gap between previous rigid hand-held utensils and soft robot-only tools. The team characterized the forces required to operate the utensil and showed how designers can modify these forces. In user studies, adults with disabilities and elderly adults with Parkinson's reported that the kiri-spoon better met their needs and was more effective at spill prevention than existing alternatives.