Showing papers on "Stair climbing published in 2018"
TL;DR: An articulated mobile robot that can climb stairs, and also move in narrow spaces and on 3-D terrain is developed and two control methods are presented that are used to adapt the robot to the surrounding terrain.
Abstract: In this paper, we develop an articulated mobile robot that can climb stairs, and also move in narrow spaces and on 3-D terrain. This paper presents two control methods for this robot. The first is a 3-D steering method that is used to adapt the robot to the surrounding terrain. In this method, the robot relaxes its joints, allowing it to adapt to the terrain using its own weight, and then, resumes its motion employing the follow-the-leader method. The second control method is the semi-autonomous stair climbing method. In this method, the robot connects with the treads of the stairs using a body called a connecting part, and then shifts the connecting part from its head to its tail. The robot then uses the sensor information to shift the connecting part with appropriate timing. The robot can climb stairs using this method even if the stairs are steep, and the sizes of the riser and the tread of the stairs are unknown. Experiments are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods and the developed robot.
54 citations
TL;DR: Demonstration of the applicability to restore ambulation for people with motor complete SCI was achieved and the progress on basic walking skills and on advanced mobility tasks such as incline walking and stair climbing is reported.
Abstract: Powered exoskeletons are a promising approach to restore the ability to walk after spinal cord injury (SCI). However, current exoskeletons remain limited in their walking speed and ability to support tasks of daily living, such as stair climbing or overcoming ramps. Moreover, training progress for such advanced mobility tasks is rarely reported in literature. The work presented here aims to demonstrate the basic functionality of the VariLeg exoskeleton and its ability to enable people with motor complete SCI to perform mobility tasks of daily life. VariLeg is a novel powered lower limb exoskeleton that enables adjustments to the compliance in the leg, with the objective of improving the robustness of walking on uneven terrain. This is achieved by an actuation system with variable mechanical stiffness in the knee joint, which was validated through test bench experiments. The feasibility and usability of the exoskeleton was tested with two paraplegic users with motor complete thoracic lesions at Th4 and Th12. The users trained three times a week, in 60 min sessions over four months with the aim of participating in the CYBATHLON 2016 competition, which served as a field test for the usability of the exoskeleton. The progress on basic walking skills and on advanced mobility tasks such as incline walking and stair climbing is reported. Within this first study, the exoskeleton was used with a constant knee stiffness. Test bench evaluation of the variable stiffness actuation system demonstrate that the stiffness could be rendered with an error lower than 30 Nm/rad. During training with the exoskeleton, both users acquired proficient skills in basic balancing, walking and slalom walking. In advanced mobility tasks, such as climbing ramps and stairs, only basic (needing support) to intermediate (able to perform task independently in 25% of the attempts) skill levels were achieved. After 4 months of training, one user competed at the CYBATHLON 2016 and was able to perform 3 (stand-sit-stand, slalom and tilted path) out of 6 obstacles of the track. No adverse events occurred during the training or the competition. Demonstration of the applicability to restore ambulation for people with motor complete SCI was achieved. The CYBATHLON highlighted the importance of training and gaining experience in piloting an exoskeleton, which were just as important as the technical realization of the robot.
52 citations
TL;DR: This study demonstrated that the GEMS was helpful for reducing cardiopulmonary metabolic energy expenditure during stair climbing in elderly adults.
Abstract: Stair ascent is one of the most important and challenging activities of daily living to maintain mobility and independence in elderly adults. Recently, various types of wearable walking assist robots have been developed to improve gait function and metabolic efficiency for elderly adults. Several studies have shown that walking assist robots can improve cardiopulmonary metabolic efficiency during level walking in elderly. However, there is limited evidence demonstrating the effect of walking assist robots on cardiopulmonary metabolic efficiency during stair walking in elderly adults. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the assistance effect of a newly developed wearable hip assist robot on cardiopulmonary metabolic efficiency during stair ascent in elderly adults. Fifteen healthy elderly adults participated. The Gait Enhancing Mechatronic System (GEMS), developed by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Korea, was used in the present study. The metabolic energy expenditure was measured using a K4b2 while participants performed randomly assigned two conditions consecutively: free ascending stairs without the GEMS or robot-assisted ascending stair with the GEMS. There were significant differences in the oxygen consumption per unit mass (ml/min/kg), metabolic power per unit mass (W/kg) and metabolic equivalents (METs) values between the GEMS and NoGEMS conditions. A statistically significant difference was found between the two conditions in net oxygen consumption and net metabolic power, with a reduction of 8.59% and 10.16% respectively in GEMS condition (p < 0.05). The gross oxygen consumption while climbing stairs under the GEMS and NoGEMS conditions was equivalent to 6.38 METs and 6.85 METs, respectively. This study demonstrated that the GEMS was helpful for reducing cardiopulmonary metabolic energy expenditure during stair climbing in elderly adults. The use of the GEMS allows elderly adults to climb stairs with less metabolic energy, therefore, they may experience more endurance in stair climbing while using the GEMS. NCT03389165
, Registered 26 December 2017 - retrospectively registered
26 citations
TL;DR: Meta-analysis revealed that kinematic and kinetic alterations during stair climbing associated with knee OA were lower external knee flexion moment in conjunction with a larger trunk/hip flexion angles and smaller kneeflexion/ankle dorsiflexion angles.
25 citations
TL;DR: The protocol involved three 60-s bouts of vigorously ascending and slowly descending a flight of stairs and was well tolerated by participants but seemingly insufficient to alter glycemic control.
Abstract: We examined the effect of brief intermittent stair climbing exercise on glycemic control using continuous glucose monitoring in people with type 2 diabetes (n = 7, 5 men; 2 women; age, 21–70 years)...
18 citations
10 Aug 2018
TL;DR: It is found that subjects have significantly better ability to estimate their error with the presence of virtual shoes than without, and when the environment was open, which resulted in significantly higher ratings of presence.
Abstract: Most virtual environments that people locomote through with head-mounted displays are flat to match the physical environment that people are actively walking on. In this paper we simulated stair climbing, and evaluated how well people could assess the distance they had climbed after several minutes of the activity under various conditions. We varied factors such as the presence of virtual feet (shoes), whether the stairwell was open or enclosed, the presence or absence of passive haptic markers, and whether a subject was ascending or descending. In general, the distance climbed or descended was overestimated, consistent with prior work on the perception of height. We find that subjects have significantly better ability to estimate their error with the presence of virtual shoes than without, and when the environment was open. Having shoes also resulted in significantly higher ratings of presence. We also find a significant tendency for females to show higher ratings of simulator sickness.
18 citations
TL;DR: A simple and novel mechanism for wheelchairs that assists in climbing stairs that has statically stable leg motion with adjustable height and seating position remains horizontal on climbing ensuring the comfort of the person.
Abstract: This paper introduces a simple and novel mechanism for wheelchairs that assists in climbing stairs. The design mechanism consists of two 2 degrees of freedom legs. Each legs consist of two four bar linkages joined to each other in a certain manner. Each leg is fitted with two actuators which assist the chair to move the legs as required. The proposed design has statically stable leg motion with adjustable height. Inverse kinematics analysis has been performed and the position values for each leg is determined. Seating position remains horizontal on climbing ensuring the comfort of the person. This would assist in resolving the balancing issues while climbing the stairs through wheel chair.
17 citations
TL;DR: The CYBERLEGs Beta-Prosthesis was modified with a new control system to participate in the Powered Leg Prosthesis event, and the experience at the CYBATHLON 2016 was a unique experience to illuminate problems that future versions of the device will be able to solve.
Abstract: Here we present how the CYBERLEGs Beta-Prosthesis was modified with a new control system to participate in the Powered Leg Prosthesis event, and to report on our experience at the CYBATHLON 2016 which was held in Zurich, Switzerland in October 2016. The prosthesis has two active degrees of freedom which assist the user with extra joint power at the knee and ankle to complete tasks. The CYBATHLON is a championship for people with disabilities competing in six disciplines, using advanced assistive devices. Tasks for CYBATHLON 2016 were chosen to reflect everyday normal task such as sitting and standing from a chair, obstacle avoidance, stepping stones, slope walking and descent, and stair climbing and descent. The control schemata were presented along with the description of each of the six tasks. The participant of the competition, the pilot, ran through each of the trials under lab conditions and representative behaviors were recorded. The VUB CYBERLEGs prosthesis was able to accomplish, to some degree, five of the six tasks and here the torque and angle behaviors of the device while accomplishing these tasks are presented. The relatively simple control methods were able to provide assistive torque during many of the events, particularly sit to stand and stair climbing. For example, the prosthesis was able to consistently provide over 30 Nm in arresting knee torque in the sitting task, and over 20 Nm while standing. Peak torque of the device was not sufficient for unassisted stair climbing, but was able to provide around 60 Nm of assistance in both ascent and descent. Use of the passive behaviors of the device were shown to be able to trigger state machine events reliably for certain tasks. Although the performance of the CYBERLEGs prosthesis during CYBATHLON 2016 did not compare to the other top of the market designs with regards to speed, the device performed all of the tasks that were deemed possible by the start of the competition. Moreover, the Pilot was able to accomplish tasks in ways the Pilot’s personal microcontrolled prosthesis could not, with limited powered prosthesis training. Future studies will focus on decreasing weight, increasing reliability, incorporating better control, and increasing the velocity of the device. This is only a case study and actual benefits to clinical outcomes are not yet understood and need to be further investigated. This competition was a unique experience to illuminate problems that future versions of the device will be able to solve.
17 citations
TL;DR: LMF and cardiorespiratory capacity significantly constrain human stair ascending capacities at high, constant step rates, including legs’ local muscle fatigue.
Abstract: This laboratory study examined human stair ascending capacity and constraining factors including legs’ local muscle fatigue (LMF) and cardiorespiratory capacity. Twenty-five healthy volunteers, with mean age 35.3 years, maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) of 46.7 mL·min−1·kg−1 and maximal heart rate (HR) of 190 bpm, ascended on a stair machine at 60 and 75% (3 min each) and 90% of VO2max (5 min or until exhaustion). The VO2, maximal heart rate (HRmax) and electromyography (EMG) of the leg muscles were measured. The average VO2highest reached 43.9 mL·min−1·kg−1, and HRhighest peaked at 185 bpm at 90% of VO2max step rate (SR). EMG amplitudes significantly increased at all three levels, p < .05, and median frequencies decreased mostly at 90% of VO2max SR evidencing leg LMF. Muscle activity interpretation squares were developed and effectively used to observe changes over time, confirming LMF. The combined effects of LMF and cardiorespiratory constraints reduced ascending tolerance and constrained the dura...
15 citations
TL;DR: Adding a meaningful message seems essential to obtain stronger and longer term effects of footprints on stair climbing in a worksite setting with a stair/escalator choice but not in a public setting withA stair/elevator choice.
Abstract: Purpose:To evaluate the impact of footprints on stair climbing in different settings.Design:Interrupted time-series design.Setting:A company (stair/elevator choice) and a mall (stair/escalator choice).Participants:Employees (n = 5676) and visitors of the mall (n = 12 623).Intervention:An intervention comprising 3 consecutive phases was implemented—(1) footprints leading to the stairs were stuck on the floor, (2) a health message referring to the footprints was introduced, and (3) passersby were congratulated for their increased stair use.Measures:Stair climbing was observed before (ie, baseline), during, and 6 to 13 weeks after (ie, follow-up) the intervention.Analysis:Proportions of stair climbers were compared using χ2 analyses.Results:The footprints resulted in a closely significant increase in stair climbing in the company (from 27.7% at baseline to 31.2% in phase 1). However, they did not produce any effect in the mall. Introducing a health message yielded an additional 12.4% increase in stair climbi...
15 citations
TL;DR: The cut-off values calculated herein accurately demonstrate the level of balance necessary for transfer and stair-climbing independence, with and without supervision, in stroke patients.
Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this study was to clarify the amount of balance necessary for the independence of transfer and stair-climbing in stroke patients.Method: This study included 111 stroke inpat...
TL;DR: The article describes the process of development of an essentially new wheel suitable both for moving on flat ground and for travelling on stairs, which can be used in the field of exploratory robots and for the transportation of persons and materials on stairs.
Abstract: The article describes the process of development of an essentially new wheel suitable both for moving on flat ground and for travelling on stairs. The stair-climbing wheel is composed of rotary cir...
TL;DR: There were different compensatory responses to LDH in the continuous lumbar spine rhythms during different ADLs, providing a new insight into the abnormal spinal motion in LDH patients.
Patent•
26 Oct 2018
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe an intelligent stair climbing vehicle that is composed of a sensing part, a control part, and an executing part, which consists of four or eight electric push-pull rods, a controller and the like.
Abstract: The invention discloses a technology and method of an intelligent stair climbing vehicle. The technologies such as sensors and push-pull rods are used, and a computer control method is used for realizing a vehicle body going up and down stairs. In addition to a controlled object, that is, the vehicle body, the intelligent stair climbing vehicle is mainly composed of a sensing part, a control partand an executing part. The sensing part is composed of a ranging sensor, a pressure sensor and the like. The control part is composed of a data collector, an embedded type computer, software and the like. The executing part is composed of an advance and retreat system and a lifting system. The advance and retreat system consists of eight power wheels, a controller and the like. The lifting systemconsists of four or eight electric push-pull rods, a controller and the like. (Figure 1) The intelligent stair climbing vehicle senses the external environment and own state in real time through the sensors and transmits the information to the computer. Based on the information, the computer controls the up and down movement of the electric push-pull rods and the forward movement of the electric wheels by comparing, analyzing, discriminating and calculating, and therefore being up and down stairs autonomously is realized.
TL;DR: A quadruped robot capable of detecting, analyzing and climbing stairs of a fixed height with the help of Ultrasonic Distance Sensor to detect the stairs along with biomimetic walking and implement biomimetically rhythmic motion of animals as a way to control the robot walking system.
TL;DR: A smaller step at the top of a short flight of stairs could reduce chances of tripping in older adults and suggests that steps with variable height could make stair negotiation safer in Older adults.
Abstract: BACKGROUND Effects of exercise on foot clearances are important. In older adults variations in foot clearances during walking may lead to a fall, but there is a lack of information concerning stair negotiation in older adults. Whether a condition of post exercise changes foot clearances between steps of a staircase in older adults still unknown. OBJECTIVE To determine differences in clearances when older adults negotiate different steps of a staircase before and after a session of aerobic exercise. METHODS Kinematics data from 30 older adults were acquired and the toe and heel clearances were determined for each step. Clearances were compared between the steps. RESULTS Smaller clearances were found at the highest step during ascending and descending, which was not changed by exercise. Smaller clearances suggest higher risk of tripping at the top of the staircase, regardless of exercise. CONCLUSION A smaller step at the top of a short flight of stairs could reduce chances of tripping in older adults. It suggests that steps with variable height could make stair negotiation safer in older adults. This hypothesis should be tested in further studies.
15 Oct 2018
TL;DR: The ActiStairs system is designed, a simple and practical system to be used in real-life circumstances and observed the users' reaction on the system in a public shopping mall, suggesting implications for future technology for the promotion of stair climbing in public spaces.
Abstract: Stair climbing is a physical activity that can easily be performed in daily life and has a positive influence on, amongst others, cardiovascular health and the prevention of frailty. Health interventions have shown to be effective in motivating stair climbing in public spaces, but have so far mostly relied on analogue means such as banners or posters. We investigate the role of technology to promote stair climbing in public spaces. We designed the ActiStairs system, a simple and practical system to be used in real-life circumstances. To understand acceptance we observed the users' reaction on the system in a public shopping mall. Based on our findings we suggest implications for future technology for the promotion of stair climbing in public spaces.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this paper, a stair climbing trolley with ratchet mechanism is constructed using solid works and imported into ANSYS software for structural analysis used to find von-mises stresses under load.
Abstract: Trolley is generally use for the carrying heavy weights with the help of less human effort. The manufacturing of the trolley deals with proper design, accurate fabrication and prescribed analysis using finite element software gives better motion which resist to high load by applying less effort this paper deals with manufacturing of such stair climbing trolley with simple mechanism( i.e. ratchet mechanism) initially the model is sketched using solid works and imported into ANSYS software for structural analysis used to find von-mises stresses under load which deals to fabricate trolley with better performance under heavy duty with less effort.
TL;DR: These results suggest short, intermittent bouts of vigorous-intensity exercise can be substituted for an equivalent volume of lower-intensity lifestyle activity when glucose is over 90 mg/dl.
TL;DR: People’s stair walking in a moving vehicle was investigated for the first time and has opened-up new horizons for gait analysis in dynamic environments, revealing that age and gender affect people”s gait in a dynamic environment.
Abstract: In a previous work of the authors, the impact of bus acceleration in level walking was presented. However, climbing stairs is physically more challenging than level walking and results in a high number of falls, hence substantial medical costs. Understanding the impact of a dynamic environment, such as that of a bus, on people’s gait whilst walking on stairs, would enable the reduction, or even the elimination of balance-loss falls. The gait of 29 healthy and regular bus users (20–80 y.o.) was monitored whilst ascending and descending a static and “moving” staircase. The tasks took place in a real double-decker bus which was initially stationary. When the bus was moving, ascending was tested during medium acceleration (+1.5 m / s 2 ), while descending during medium deceleration (−1.5 m / s 2 ), reproducing the most common movements aboard buses. Examining healthy people enables the identification of differences in gait that are accounted for the alteration in the bus environment and gives the opportunity to further consider the challenges mobility impaired passengers are experiencing. After applying the method established in level walking, chi-square tests were performed on participants’ step type (resulting from the ground reaction force profile), taking into account participants’ age and gender and the bus acceleration. The outcomes revealed that age and gender affect people’s gait in a dynamic environment. Moreover, there is a significant correlation between the increase of acceleration and the type of steps passengers use to sustain their balance, as the number of three-peak steps was increasing with the increase of bus acceleration. Hence, the bus environment forces people to use a walking style other than their natural one and older people in particular, unconsciously increase the contact area between their foot and the floor (three-peak steps) to increase balance. Surprisingly, males appear less able than females to control balance. People’s stair walking in a moving vehicle was investigated for the first time and has opened-up new horizons for gait analysis in dynamic environments.
09 Oct 2018
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that a reliable intent recognition system can be created with multiple sessions of use, bringing lower limb intent recognition systems for powered prostheses one step closer to clinical viability.
Abstract: Powered lower limb prostheses have the capabilities to assist individuals with a lower limb amputation during ambulation. While these devices can generate power at the knee and/or ankle to assist with incline walking and stair climbing, it is difficult to control the transition between these ambulation modes in a seamless and natural way. Pattern recognition has been suggested as an alternative to using a key fob to switch between modes and recent results have shown reliable performance (less than 5% error rate) across five ambulation modes. In this study we investigated performance of a similar system across multiple sessions of use, a necessary step prior to clinical use. Two individuals with a transfemoral amputation used a powered knee-ankle for five ambulation activities including level-ground walking, ramp ascent, ramp descent, stair ascent, and stair descent over four sessions spaced out over at least two months. An intent recognition system was trained using embedded prosthesis mechanical sensors with varying amounts of data collected across the sessions to determine the effect of multi-session use and increased variation in the activities trained. Overall system error rate decreased from 1.45% [0.3%] when the system was trained with Session 1 data only and tested with Session 4 data to 0.60% [0.02%] when the system was trained with Sessions 1–3 data and tested with Session 4 data. These results demonstrate that a reliable intent recognition system can be created with multiple sessions of use, bringing lower limb intent recognition systems for powered prostheses one step closer to clinical viability.
Patent•
30 Jan 2018
TL;DR: In this paper, an object-loading robot which can move as well as climb stairs is presented, and the robot can switch between flat movement states and stair climbing states by using a wheel caterpillar mode switch mechanism.
Abstract: The invention relates to the technical field of robots, in particular to an object-loading robot which can move as well as climb stairs. The problems in the prior art that a stair-climbing and object-loading robot is complicated in structure and low in cost performance and it is hard to popularize the robot are solved. The object-loading robot comprises a supporting frame, caterpillar band drive mechanisms, a wheel caterpillar mode switch mechanism, an object-loading platform posture adjusting mechanism, driving hub motors, universal wheels and a control unit, the caterpillar band drive mechanisms, the wheel caterpillar mode switch mechanism, the object-loading platform posture adjusting mechanism, the driving hub motors, the universal wheels and the control unit are arranged on the supporting frame, through the wheel caterpillar mode switch mechanism, wheel caterpillar switching can be conducted aiming at the flat movement state or the stair climbing state, and thus the multiple movement modes of the robot are achieved. The object-loading robot is low in cost, small in size, and light in weight; the robot is flexibly switched between the flat movement mode and the stair climbing mode, and is more suitable for serving as a portable auxiliary object-loading robot, the control method is simple, and thus the object-loading robot is convenient to popularize.
01 Jul 2018
TL;DR: Stair climbing tests show that the gravity compensation method and force-tracking controller enhance the stair climbing mobility, and demonstrate the feasibility of the designed exoskeleton and the proposed hybrid assistive control strategy.
Abstract: This paper presents a light-weight lower extremity exoskeleton and its associated control method to augment the locomotion for climbing stairs. A compact slider crank mechanism is designed for the knee joint to offer the required torque. A spring based quasi-passive hip joint is adopted to compensate gravity force of lifting leg. A hybrid assistive control strategy is proposed to ensure the requirement and coordination of different gait phases for the exoskeleton. In standing phase, a direct gravity balancing method is used to support the body and payload. In swing phase, a force tracking control method is utilized to enhance leg mobility. Stair climbing tests show that the gravity compensation method and force-tracking controller enhance the stair climbing mobility, and demonstrate the feasibility of the designed exoskeleton and the proposed hybrid control strategy.
Patent•
06 Apr 2018
TL;DR: In this paper, an electric wheelchair for stair climbing is described, where the track wheel mechanisms are more mature compared with planet wheel mechanisms, and the gravity center fluctuation of the electric wheelchair is small, and then moving is stable.
Abstract: The invention discloses an electric wheelchair for stair climbing. The electric wheelchair for stair climbing comprises a wheelchair body, track mechanisms are arranged at the bottom of the wheelchairbody, a plurality of bearing frames are installed between the track mechanisms, a plurality of connecting pieces are arranged on the bearing frames, second driving mechanisms are installed at one ends of the bearing frames, an electric pushing mechanism is installed at the tops of the bearing frames, a base plate is installed at the top of the electric pushing mechanism, a backrest is arranged atone end of the base plate, handrails are installed on the backrest, a hand pushing rod is arranged at one end of the backrest, controllers are installed at one ends of the handrails, a headrest is installed at the top of the backrest, and a storage battery and a tilt angle sensor are installed at the bottom of the base plate. The electric wheelchair for stair climbing is novel in structure and simple and convenient to operate, and track wheel mechanisms are more mature compared with planet wheel mechanisms, wherein in the moving process, gravity center fluctuation of the electric wheelchair for stair climbing is small, and then moving is stable, so that the purpose of travelling and stair climbing of a person who has difficulty in moving by lower limps is effectively achieved; the track wheelchair is high in adaptability, flexible and large in moving range, and has a practical value for the person with a low-limb disability.
TL;DR: External ankle load appears to help the Down syndrome group regulate toe clearance and horizontal toe velocity for different stair heights and to a greater extent than the TD group in stance time and toe-to-stair distance.
Patent•
02 Nov 2018
TL;DR: In this article, a stair-climbing obstacle-surmounting transportation carrier, a control method, a mobile terminal and a storage medium are described, and the target distance of the rectilinear translation device moving relatively to the support leg is controlled according to the information of a line.
Abstract: The invention discloses a stair-climbing obstacle-surmounting transportation carrier, a control method, a mobile terminal and a storage medium, the stair-climbing obstacle-surmounting transportation carrier comprises at least one group of extension type support legs, each group of the extension type support legs comprise at least two extension type support legs, the stair-climbing obstacle-surmounting transportation carrier comprises a rectilinear translation device, a steering device, a load platform, a visual recognition processing device and a control device; the target distance of the rectilinear translation device moving relatively to the support leg is controlled according to the information of a line, the steering device drives the load platform to rotate relatively to the support leg by the target angle, the support leg extends to the target length, and a non-support leg is guaranteed to be supported on the ground after being substituted by the support leg. The load platform moves linearly relatively to the support leg through the switching of the non-support leg and the support leg, the load platform is driven to rotate on the basis of the steering device, then the load platform steers; and the extension type support leg is used to guarantee that the load platform is at the horizontal state all the time.
24 May 2018
TL;DR: Kinematic and dynamic parameters of the exoskeleton motion are presented and discussed and virtual simulation results demonstrate the technical feasibility of the proposed solution, in case of stair climbing motion assistance for people with lower limb muscle weakness.
Abstract: In this paper the researches developed by the authors in the direction of motion assistance and rehabilitation for people with motion weakness are presented. Using wearable goniometers, experiments concerning stair climbing gait parameters determination are conducted. A robotic exoskeleton device is proposed to assist people with muscle weakness in the case of stair climbing activity. A virtual model of the exoskeleton and of human mannequin is developed in SolidWorks design environment. Using ADAMS software, a dynamic simulation for the assembly of virtual mannequin and motion assistance exoskeleton, in case of stair climbing is performed. Kinematic and dynamic parameters of the exoskeleton motion are presented and discussed. Virtual simulation results demonstrate the technical feasibility of the proposed solution, in case of stair climbing motion assistance for people with lower limb muscle weakness.
TL;DR: An optimal design of a flip-type mobile robot is presented in order to improve the adaptability as well as stability while climbing stairs and the Taguchi method is used as the optimization tool.
Abstract: Stairs overcoming is a primary challenge for mobile robots moving in human environments, and the contradiction between the portability and the adaptability of stair climbing robot is not well resol...
TL;DR: The general approach accompanied by results of a functional model from an initial concept study showed promising results, while most predefined velocities on the model test parkour rise could be reached.
Abstract: Abstract Emergency medical service (EMS) is an essential part of health care with the main task to transport and monitor patients. However, this duty often becomes a challenge due to obstacles - especially stairs - on the way. Associated lifting and carrying of patients regularly imposes high loads in unergonomic working postures on paramedics, leading to the highest work induced injury rates among all industries also due to a deficient usability of existing transport aids. Therefore our goal is the development of a stair climbing mechanism for a novel mechatronic transport aid characterized by high mobility and a small footprint, whereby particular attention has to be paid to application specific requirements. This paper presents the general approach accompanied by results of a functional model from an initial concept study. Acceleration and jerk measurements showed promising results, while most predefined velocities on the model test parkour rise could be reached.
01 Oct 2018
TL;DR: The design is small and simple enough to potentially be ruggedized as a stair-climbing throwbot, akin to the Recon Scout (but able to climb up stairs) for reconnaissance in military and homeland security applications.
Abstract: This paper presents a (patent-pending) small, quasi-static, minimal-complexity Stair Climbing Robot (SCR). The vehicle design is given simply by adding a third motor to a (Segway-like) Mobile Inverted Pendulum (MIP), enabling it to maneuver up stairs, leveraging feedback control, by planting it's “foot” onto the ground in front of the next step, lifting the chassis/wheel assembly up it's own “leg”, leaning over onto the top of the next step, self uprighting, and repeating for the following step(s). Fore/aft stabilization during leg balancing is given by using the MIP drive wheels as reaction wheels, while left/right stability is given by the width of the foot itself. The design is small and simple enough to potentially be ruggedized as a stair-climbing throwbot, akin to the Recon Scout (but able to climb up stairs) for reconnaissance in military and homeland security applications.