Empowering and assisting natural human mobility: The simbiosis walker

This paper presents the complete development of the Simbiosis Smart Walker. The device is equipped with a set of sensor subsystems to acquire user-machine interaction forces and the temporal evolution of user's feet during gait. The authors present an adaptive filtering technique used for the identification and separation of different components found on the human-machine interaction forces. This technique allowed isolating the components related with the navigational commands and developing a Fuzzy logic controller to guide the device. The Smart Walker was clinically validated at the Spinal Cord Injury Hospital of Toledo - Spain, presenting great acceptability by spinal chord injury patients and clinical staf

Finding Your Way Back: Comparing Path Odometry Algorithms for Assisted Return.

We present a comparative analysis of inertial-based odometry algorithms for the purpose of assisted return. An assisted return system facilitates backtracking of a path previously taken, and can be particularly useful for blind pedestrians. We present a new algorithm for path matching, and test it in simulated assisted return tasks with data from WeAllWalk, the only existing data set with inertial data recorded from blind walkers. We consider two odometry systems, one based on deep learning (RoNIN), and the second based on robust turn detection and step counting. Our results show that the best path matching results are obtained using the turns/steps odometry system

Overcoming barriers and increasing independence: service robots for elderly and disabled people

This paper discusses the potential for service robots to overcome barriers and increase independence of elderly and disabled people. It includes a brief overview of the existing uses of service robots by disabled and elderly people and advances in technology which will make new uses possible and provides suggestions for some of these new applications. The paper also considers the design and other conditions to be met for user acceptance. It also discusses the complementarity of assistive service robots and personal assistance and considers the types of applications and users for which service robots are and are not suitable

Design and Implementation of an Instrumented Cane for Gait Recognition

Independent mobility is an important aspect of an individual's life and must sometimes be augmented by use of an assistive device such as a wheeled walker or cane following a fall, injury, or functional decline. Physical therapists perform functional gait assessments to gauge the probability of an individual experiencing a fall and often recommend use of a walker, cane, or walking stick to decrease fall risk. Our team has developed a clinical assessment tool centered on a standard walking cane embedded system that can enhance a therapist's observation-based gait assessment with use of additional objective and quantitative data. This system can be utilized to detect timing and speed of cane placement, angular acceleration of the cane, and amounts of weight borne on the cane. This system is designed to assist physical therapists at the basic level in collection of objective data during gait analysis, to facilitate appropriate assistive gait device prescription, to provide patients and therapists feedback during gait training, and to reduce wrist and shoulder injuries with cane usage. However, more importantly, using the plethora of objective data that can be obtained from this cane, automated gait analysis and gait pattern classification can be performed to understand a patient's walking performance

Instrumentation and validation of a robotic cane for transportation and fall prevention in patients with affected mobility

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Física, (especialização em Dispositivos, Microssistemas e Nanotecnologias)O ato de andar é conhecido por ser a forma primitiva de locomoção do ser humano, sendo que este traz muitos benefícios que motivam um estilo de vida saudável e ativo. No entanto, há condições de saúde que dificultam a realização da marcha, o que por consequência pode resultar num agravamento da saúde, e adicionalmente, levar a um maior risco de quedas. Nesse sentido, o desenvolvimento de um sistema de deteção e prevenção de quedas, integrado num dispositivo auxiliar de marcha, seria essencial para reduzir estes eventos de quedas e melhorar a qualidade de vida das pessoas. Para ultrapassar estas necessidades e limitações, esta dissertação tem como objetivo validar e instrumentar uma bengala robótica, denominada Anti-fall Robotic Cane (ARCane), concebida para incorporar um sistema de deteção de quedas e um mecanismo de atuação que possibilite a prevenção de quedas, ao mesmo tempo que assiste a marcha. Para esse fim, foi realizada uma revisão do estado da arte em bengalas robóticas para adquirir um conhecimento amplo e aprofundado dos componentes, mecanismos e estratégias utilizadas, bem como os protocolos experimentais, principais resultados, limitações e desafios em dispositivos existentes. Numa primeira fase, foi estipulado o objetivo de: (i) adaptar a missão do produto; (ii) estudar as necessidades do consumidor; e (iii) atualizar as especificações alvo da ARCane, continuação do trabalho de equipa, para obter um produto com design e engenharia compatível com o mercado. Foi depois estabelecida a arquitetura de hardware e discutidos os componentes a ser instrumentados na ARCane. Em seguida foram realizados testes de interoperabilidade a fim de validar o funcionamento singular e coletivo dos componentes. Relativamente ao controlo de movimento, foi desenvolvido um sistema inovador, de baixo custo e intuitivo, capaz de detetar a intenção do movimento e de reconhecer as fases da marcha do utilizador. Esta implementação foi validada com seis voluntários saudáveis que realizaram testes de marcha com a ARCane para testar sua operabilidade num ambiente de contexto real. Obteve-se uma precisão de 97% e de 90% em relação à deteção da intenção de movimento e ao reconhecimento da fase da marcha do utilizador. Por fim, foi projetado um método de deteção de quedas e mecanismo de prevenção de quedas para futura implementação na ARCane. Foi ainda proposta uma melhoria do método de deteção de quedas, de modo a superar as limitações associadas, bem como a proposta de dispositivos de deteção a serem implementados na ARCane para obter um sistema completo de deteção de quedas.The act of walking is known to be the primitive form of the human being, and it brings many benefits that motivate a healthy and active lifestyle. However, there are health conditions that make walking difficult, which, consequently, can result in worse health and, in addition, lead to a greater risk of falls. Thus, the development of a fall detection and prevention system integrated with a walking aid would be essential to reduce these fall events and improve people quality of life. To overcome these needs and limitations, this dissertation aims to validate and instrument a cane-type robot, called Anti-fall Robotic Cane (ARCane), designed to incorporate a fall detection system and an actuation mechanism that allow the prevention of falls, while assisting the gait. Therefore, a State-of-the-Art review concerning robotic canes was carried out to acquire a broad and in-depth knowledge of the used components, mechanisms and strategies, as well as the experimental protocols, main results, limitations and challenges on existing devices. On a first stage, it was set an objective to (i) enhance the product's mission statement; (ii) study the consumer needs; and (iii) update the target specifications of the ARCane, extending teamwork, to obtain a product with a market-compatible design and engineering that meets the needs and desires of the ARCane users. It was then established the hardware architecture of the ARCane and discussed the electronic components that will instrument the control, sensory, actuator and power units, being afterwards subjected to interoperability tests to validate the singular and collective functioning of cane components altogether. Regarding the motion control of robotic canes, an innovative, cost-effective and intuitive motion control system was developed, providing user movement intention recognition, and identification of the user's gait phases. This implementation was validated with six healthy volunteers who carried out gait trials with the ARCane, in order to test its operability in a real context environment. An accuracy of 97% was achieved for user motion intention recognition and 90% for user gait phase recognition, using the proposed motion control system. Finally, it was idealized a fall detection method and fall prevention mechanism for a future implementation in the ARCane, based on methods applied to robotic canes in the literature. It was also proposed an improvement of the fall detection method in order to overcome its associated limitations, as well as detection devices to be implemented into the ARCane to achieve a complete fall detection system

State of the art review on walking support system for visually impaired people

The technology for terrain detection and walking support system for blind people has rapidly been improved the last couple of decades but to assist visually impaired people may have started long ago. Currently, a variety of portable or wearable navigation system is available in the market to help the blind for navigating their way in his local or remote area. The focused category in this work can be subgroups as electronic travel aids (ETAs), electronic orientation aids (EOAs) and position locator devices (PLDs). However, we will focus mainly on electronic travel aids (ETAs). This paper presents a comparative survey among the various portable or wearable walking support systems as well as informative description (a subcategory of ETAs or early stages of ETAs) with its working principal advantages and disadvantages so that the researchers can easily get the current stage of assisting blind technology along with the requirement for optimising the design of walking support system for its users

Sensorized Tip for Monitoring People with Multiple Sclerosis that Require Assistive Devices for Walking

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a neurological degenerative disease with high impact on our society. In order to mitigate its effects, proper rehabilitation therapy is mandatory, in which individualisation is a key factor. Technological solutions can provide the information required for this purpose, by monitoring patients and extracting relevant indicators. In this work, a novel Sensorized Tip is proposed for monitoring People with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS) that require Assistive Devices for Walking (ADW) such as canes or crutches. The developed Sensorized Tip can be adapted to the personal ADW of each patient to reduce its impact, and provides sensor data while naturally walking in the everyday activities. This data that can be processed to obtain relevant indicators that helps assessing the status of the patient. Different from other approaches, a full validation of the proposed processing algorithms is carried out in this work, and a preliminary study-case is carried out with PwMS considering a set of indicators obtained from the Sensorized Tip’s processed data. Results of the preliminary study-case demonstrate the potential of the device to monitor and characterise patient status

Cyber Physical System for Continuous Evaluation of Fall Risks to Enable Aging-In-Place

Every year, one out of three adults over the age of 65 falls, and about 30% of the falls result in moderate to severe injuries. The high rate of fall-related hospitalizations and the fact that falls are a major source of morbidity and mortality in older adults have motivated extensive interdisciplinary clinical and engineering research with a focus on fall prevention. This research is aimed at developing a medical Cyber Physical System (CPS) composed of a human supervised mobile robot and ambient intelligence sensors to provide continuous evaluation of environmental risks in the home. As a preventive measure to avoid falls, we propose use of mobile robots to detect possible fall risks inside a house. As a step-up to that, we also define a control framework for intelligent, networked mobile robots to semi-autonomously perform assistive and preventive tasks. This framework is integrated in a smart home that provides monitoring and control capabilities of environmental conditions such as objects blocking pathways or uneven surfaces. The main outcome of this work is the realization of this system at Worcester Polytechnic Institute\u27s (WPI) @Home testbed

Mobile assistive technologies for the visually impaired

There are around 285 million visually impaired people worldwide, and around 370,000 people are registered as blind or partially sighted in the UK. Ongoing advances in information technology (IT) are increasing the scope for IT-based mobile assistive technologies to facilitate the independence, safety, and improved quality of life of the visually impaired. Research is being directed at making mobile phones and other handheld devices accessible via our haptic (touch) and audio sensory channels. We review research and innovation within the field of mobile assistive technology for the visually impaired and, in so doing, highlight the need for successful collaboration between clinical expertise, computer science, and domain users to realize fully the potential benefits of such technologies. We initially reflect on research that has been conducted to make mobile phones more accessible to people with vision loss. We then discuss innovative assistive applications designed for the visually impaired that are either delivered via mainstream devices and can be used while in motion (e.g., mobile phones) or are embedded within an environment that may be in motion (e.g., public transport) or within which the user may be in motion (e.g., smart homes)