Reimagining Robotic Walkers For Real-World Outdoor Play Environments With Insights From Legged Robots: A Scoping Review

PURPOSE For children with mobility impairments, without cognitive delays, who want to participate in outdoor activities, existing assistive technology (AT) to support their needs is limited. In this review, we investigate the control and design of a selection of robotic walkers while exploring a selection of legged robots to develop solutions that address this gap in robotic AT. METHOD We performed a comprehensive literature search from four main databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and IEEE Xplore. The keywords used in the search were the following: “walker”, “rollator”, “smart walker”, “robotic walker”, “robotic rollator”. Studies were required to discuss the control or design of robotic walkers to be considered. A total of 159 papers were analyzed. RESULTS From the 159 papers, 127 were excluded since they failed to meet our inclusion criteria. The total number of papers analyzed included publications that utilized the same device, therefore we classified the remaining 32 studies into groups based on the type of robotic walker used. This paper reviewed 15 different types of robotic walkers. CONCLUSIONS The ability of many-legged robots to negotiate and transition between a range of unstructured substrates suggests several avenues of future consideration whose pursuit could benefit robotic AT, particularly regarding the present limitations of wheeled paediatric robotic walkers for children’s daily outside use. For more information: Kod*lab (link to kodlab.seas.upenn.edu

Microcosm Mountain : Exploring architecture's potential to make the pre-existing apparent in the manifold of the imaginary and physical

Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references

NASA Tech Briefs, December 1990

Topics: New Product Ideas; NASA TU Services; Electronic Components and Circuits; Electronic Systems; Physical Sciences; Materials; Computer Programs; Mechanics; Machinery; Fabrication Technology; Mathematics and Information Sciences; Life Sciences

Steering natural dynamics to yield energy efficient, stable, and agile legged locomotion

We investigate how natural dynamics can yield stable, agile, and energy efficient robotic systems. Firstly, we cover a design with a single passive rolling element to stabilize frontal plane dynamics for a 3D biped walking across a range of forward velocities and/or step lengths. We examine aspects of the non-linear dynamics that contribute to the energy efficiency and stability of the system through simulations. Secondly, we examine switching controllers that allow for agile foothold selection in 5-link walkers. We leverage dynamic programming and discretization of the reachable space to walk across intermittent footholds. We utilize our meshing techniques to quantify stability and agility of these switching controllers. Finally, we provide experimental data on the effect of extra mass and power on humans at a variety of locations and forward velocities. This allows robot and exoskeleton designers to optimize for energy performance by understanding mass placements and power densities required for high performing legged locomotion. Finally, we present experimental data for an exoskeleton capable of assisting across running and walking speed