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

Filtrado Adaptativo de Componentes Involuntarias en Marcha Asistida por Andador para Detección de Intenciones

ResumenEn este trabajo, se presenta un método de filtrado adaptativo para la eliminación de las componentes involuntarias de las fuerzas de interacción entre el usuario y el andador por el apoyo de sus miembros superiores. Este proceso se basa en la atenuación selectiva de componentes relacionadas con las oscilaciones del tronco del sujeto durante la marcha. Para ello, se hace la estimación de la cadencia de marcha en tiempo real procesando las señales de distancia obtenidas por un subsistema ultrasónico mediante el algoritmo Weighted-Frequency Fourier Linear Combiner (WFLC). Este subsistema suministra la distancia entre los pies del usuario y el andador en tiempo real. La cadencia a su vez es usada para el ajuste de un filtro notch adaptativo construido a partir del algoritmo Fourier Linear Combiner (FLC) que realiza el filtrado en tiempo real de las señales obtenidas del subsistema de medición de fuerzas de apoyo de antebrazos. El método propuesto ofrece una cancelación robusta y en tiempo real de cerca del 80% de la amplitud de las componentes indeseadas de frecuencia. La salida del algoritmo de filtrado propuesto permite así evidenciar componentes de fuerzas de bajo nivel pero muy importantes ya que están generadas por acciones intencionales y naturales asociadas a las intenciones de guiado del andador. Estas componentes serán utilizadas en el control de los motores del andador basándose en una arquitectura de control clásico que será desarrollada posteriormente

Extraction of user's navigation commands from upper body force interaction in walker assisted gait

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The advances in technology make possible the incorporation of sensors and actuators in rollators, building safer robots and extending the use of walkers to a more diverse population. This paper presents a new method for the extraction of navigation related components from upper-body force interaction data in walker assisted gait. A filtering architecture is designed to cancel: (i) the high-frequency noise caused by vibrations on the walker's structure due to irregularities on the terrain or walker's wheels and (ii) the cadence related force components caused by user's trunk oscillations during gait. As a result, a third component related to user's navigation commands is distinguished.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>For the cancelation of high-frequency noise, a Benedict-Bordner g-h filter was designed presenting very low values for Kinematic Tracking Error ((2.035 ± 0.358)·10^-2<it>kgf</it>) and delay ((1.897 ± 0.3697)·10¹<it>ms</it>). A <it>Fourier Linear Combiner </it>filtering architecture was implemented for the adaptive attenuation of about 80% of the cadence related components' energy from force data. This was done without compromising the information contained in the frequencies close to such notch filters.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The presented methodology offers an effective cancelation of the undesired components from force data, allowing the system to extract in real-time voluntary user's navigation commands. Based on this real-time identification of voluntary user's commands, a classical approach to the control architecture of the robotic walker is being developed, in order to obtain stable and safe user assisted locomotion.</p

Extraction of user's navigation commands from upper body force interaction in walker assisted gait

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The advances in technology make possible the incorporation of sensors and actuators in rollators, building safer robots and extending the use of walkers to a more diverse population. This paper presents a new method for the extraction of navigation related components from upper-body force interaction data in walker assisted gait. A filtering architecture is designed to cancel: (i) the high-frequency noise caused by vibrations on the walker's structure due to irregularities on the terrain or walker's wheels and (ii) the cadence related force components caused by user's trunk oscillations during gait. As a result, a third component related to user's navigation commands is distinguished.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>For the cancelation of high-frequency noise, a Benedict-Bordner g-h filter was designed presenting very low values for Kinematic Tracking Error ((2.035 ± 0.358)·10^-2<it>kgf</it>) and delay ((1.897 ± 0.3697)·10¹<it>ms</it>). A <it>Fourier Linear Combiner </it>filtering architecture was implemented for the adaptive attenuation of about 80% of the cadence related components' energy from force data. This was done without compromising the information contained in the frequencies close to such notch filters.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The presented methodology offers an effective cancelation of the undesired components from force data, allowing the system to extract in real-time voluntary user's navigation commands. Based on this real-time identification of voluntary user's commands, a classical approach to the control architecture of the robotic walker is being developed, in order to obtain stable and safe user assisted locomotion.</p

Collaborative and Inclusive Process with the Autism Community: A Case Study in Colombia About Social Robot Design

One of the most promising areas in which social assistive robotics has been introduced is therapeutic intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders (CwASD). Even though there are promising results in therapeutic contexts, there is a lack of guidelines on how to select the appropriate robot and how to design and implement the child-robot interaction. The use of participatory design (PD) methods in the design of technology-based processes for CwASD is a recognition of the stakeholders as "experts" in their fields. This work explores the benefits brought by the use of PD methods in the design of a social robot, with a specific focus on their use in autism spectrum disorders therapies on the Colombian autism community. Based on what proved to be effective in our previous research, we implemented participatory methods for both the CwASD and the stakeholders. The process leverages the active role of participants using a focus group approach with parents and specialists, and scene cards, narrative and handmade generative methods with the children. To overcome some challenges of traditional PD processes, where not all community actors are considered, we included a Colombian community consisting of therapists, nurses, caregivers and parents. The proposed PD process provides an opportunity to learn from several community actors (and thus different cultural and social aspects of developing countries), improving traditional robot design methods. In this way, the findings are summarized through a set of guidelines regarding the design of a social robot-device suitable to be implemented for robot-assisted therapy for CwASD

Human-Walker Interaction on Slopes Based on LRF and IMU Sensors

Abstract-Smart Walkers should be able to safely deal with inclinations in order to become a device effectively useful in the daily life of the elderly population. This paper presents a novel model of human-walker interaction on slopes. The interaction parameters are obtained from a Laser Range Finder (LRF) and an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). This model is integrated into the conventional closed control loop as a supervisor block. This block modifies, based on inclinations, the control set points to provide an adaptable human-walker desired position to improve comfort and safety and enhance user&apos;s confidence in the walker. The practical evaluation shows that the parameters extracted from the natural behavior of the user and the estimated set points determined with the model proposal are highly correlated, presenting a similar trend. This correlation allows performing a more natural control

Human-robot interaction strategies for walker-assisted locomotion

This book presents the development of a new multimodal human-robot interface for testing and validating control strategies applied to robotic walkers for assisting human mobility and gait rehabilitation. The aim is to achieve a closer interaction between the robotic device and the individual, empowering the rehabilitation potential of such devices in clinical applications. A new multimodal human-robot interface for testing and validating control strategies applied to robotic walkers for assisting human mobility and gait rehabilitation is presented. Trends and opportunities for future advances in the field of assistive locomotion via the development of hybrid solutions based on the combination of smart walkers and biomechatronic exoskeletons are also discussed.

Human-Robot interaction strategy for overground rehabilitation in patients with Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is the most common cause of permanent serious physical disability in childhood. New strategies are needed to help promote, maintain, and rehabilitate the functional capacity of children with severe level of impairment. Overground walking rehabilitation devices appear as an alternative treatment for improving gait performance as well as training natural gait patterns among this population. The main objective of this work is to present a Human-Robot interaction strategy for overground rehabilitation to support novel robotic-based therapies for CP rehabilitation. This strategy is implemented in a new robotic platform named CPWalker. In our approach, legs' kinematics information obtained from a Laser Range Finder (LRF) sensor is used to detect the user's locomotion intentions and drive the robotic platform. The controller continuously adjust robot's velocity to human velocity achieving an adequate robot motion that assists the locomotion at each step. During a preliminary validation we observed that our strategy is able to fast adapt to patients and provide them a stable gait pattern at different speeds. As a result, the proposed controller is able to provide a natural interface between the robotic-platform and the patient