Dr Chris Melhuish and his Bristol-based team hope the robot, called EcoBot II, will one day be sent into zones too dangerous for humans, potentially proving invaluable in military, security and industrial areas.

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RTC's new robot, named RIBA-II, overcomes these limitations with added power and functionality.

ENGADGET: RIBA-II healthcare robot now stronger, smarter -- still a bear

At this stage, EcoBot II is a "proof-of-concept" robot and travels only at roughly 10 centimeters per hour.

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Melhuish, who is director of the Intelligent Autonomous Systems Lab at the UWE, told CNN that the EcoBot II was a result of a quest for an intelligent robot that could function without human supervision.

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New joints in the robot's base and lower back enable RIBA-II to crouch down and lift a patient off a futon at floor level (Figure 1), the most physically strenuous task for care-givers and one that RIBA was not able to do.

ENGADGET: RIBA-II healthcare robot now stronger, smarter -- still a bear

"I see today's robot toys as predecessors to the future of the robotics industry just as my Apple II and Atari now seem like toys compared to computers today, " Trower says.

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Printed in sheets and fitted onto the robot's arms and chest, the sensors enable high-precision tactile guidance and allow RIBA-II to quickly detect a person's weight from touch alone, guaranteeing patient safety.

ENGADGET: RIBA-II healthcare robot now stronger, smarter -- still a bear