A Stepper Motor-Powered Lower Limb Exoskeleton with Multiple Assistance Functions for Daily Use by the Elderly

With the increase in the aging population, the demand for healthcare devices has increased. Among the aging population, many experience joint pain, muscle weakness, or poor balance. Without external help, such persons may have difficulty walking, fall easily, or experience poor quality of life. To p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of robotics and mechatronics Vol. 35; no. 3; pp. 601 - 611
Main Authors Fang, Yifan, Hou, Bingkai, Wu, Xiuyuan, Wang, Yuntian, Osawa, Keisuke, Tanaka, Eiichiro
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Tokyo Fuji Technology Press Co. Ltd 01.06.2023
Subjects
Aging
Exoskeletons
Muscles
Older people
Potentiometers
Pressure sensors
Quality of life
Rehabilitation
Stairways
Stepping motors
User needs
Walking
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Summary:With the increase in the aging population, the demand for healthcare devices has increased. Among the aging population, many experience joint pain, muscle weakness, or poor balance. Without external help, such persons may have difficulty walking, fall easily, or experience poor quality of life. To provide this category of the population with the opportunity to exercise and walk safely and take care of themselves in daily activities, a stepper motor-powered walking assistive device is proposed and built. The device enables users with different heights to walk in suitable gaits; assists users to stand up, sit down, and step up or down stairs; automatically detects user’s intention using pressure sensors and potentiometers; and can be used outdoors for long periods. In this study, the effectiveness of the device is verified using muscle-activity measurements.
ISSN:0915-3942
1883-8049
DOI:10.20965/jrm.2023.p0601