Tandem Stance Avoidance Using Adaptive and Asymmetric Admittance Control for Fall Prevention.
Journal:
IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering : a publication of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society
Published Date:
May 4, 2015
Abstract
Fall prevention is one of the most important functions of walking assistance devices for user's safety. It is preferable that these devices prevent the user from being in the state where the risk of falling is high rather than helping them recovering from falling motion. During turning, when the user is in the tandem stance, a state where both legs form a line along walking direction, a support base that is surrounded by two legs becomes small, and a stability margin becomes small. This paper therefore aims to prevent the tandem stance by using nonwearable robot "intelligent cane" for the elderly or physically challenged person. Generally, the behavior of the lower limb follows the upper body turning. This paper therefore introduces a cane robot control method which constrains the behavior of user's upper body. By adjusting an admittance parameter of the robot according to the positions of a support leg, the robot resists to turn while a support leg is on the same side of the turning direction. A swing leg on the turning direction side therefore freely moves to the turning direction, while a swing leg on the opposite direction side of turning hardly move to the turning direction.
Authors
Keywords
Accidental Falls
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Canes
Computer Simulation
Equipment Design
Equipment Failure Analysis
Exoskeleton Device
Female
Gait
Gait Disorders, Neurologic
Humans
Male
Man-Machine Systems
Models, Biological
Monitoring, Ambulatory
Physical Stimulation
Robotics
Self-Help Devices
Stress, Mechanical
Touch
Walking