It took Norma Margeson a few minutes to learn to control the skinny metal robot. But instead of viewing it as a machine, she soon warmed up to it as a companion. Georgia artist Norma Margeson has embraced a robot prototype that can fetch household items for patients.

Georgia artist Norma Margeson has embraced a robot prototype that can fetch household items for patients.

"Oh, I love it," she said. "I think it is such a unique character. It has a personality all its own. It can be a friend, a very good friend."

Margeson, an artist from Marietta, Georgia, is learning how a health care robot dubbed El-E (pronounced "Ellie") can help her accomplish some simple household tasks. El-E is being tested by Margeson and other patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

"We named it El-E because she reminds us of an elephant. She has this one arm that is sort of gray that can lift objects and move up and down," said Professor Charles Kemp, director of the Center for Healthcare Robotics at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

Right now Kemp and his colleagues are focusing on programming El-E to locate and fetch common household items such as a hairbrush, a bottle of pills, a cell phone or a TV remote. El-E also can open doors. Video Watch El-E the robot in action »

A robot with those skills could provide some independence for patients with motor impairments and a respite for caregivers. Kemp said he hopes his robots could help people in wheelchairs, the elderly and those with such diseases as arthritis and diabetes.

"There is still significant research to be done in order to make robots like El-E function in real homes on a daily basis," Kemp said. "Real homes contain a diverse array of objects, have obstacles that make robot navigation difficult, have varied lighting, contain fragile items, provide shelter to pets and family members, and have messy areas."

Kemp has been working for more than a year with Jonathan Glass, a neurology professor at Emory University in Atlanta and director of the Emory ALS Center.

"What Charlie and his team have been very focused on is not what they can make the robots do, but what they can make the robots do that's important to people," Glass said.

"We may think of things that are relatively trivial -- picking up a cell phone, picking up a remote control for a TV set or even pushing a button somewhere that they cannot quite reach. That may seem to be a small thing to somebody. But to these folks, it's a very big thing."

El-E is about 5 feet tall, with a single robotic arm that can move up and down to pick up objects at different heights. The robot swivels and rolls on a motorized, wheeled base.

During a demonstration in a living-room setting at Georgia Tech, Margeson used a laser pointer to identify objects she wanted El-E to deliver to her. Patients with different levels of mobility also can use head-mounted pointers or touch pads.

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