Stair climbing

About: Stair climbing is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1610 publications have been published within this topic receiving 30504 citations.

Development of Hi-Grip Crawler using a Deformation of Powder

Abstract: It is desirable to have a mobile robot which can move and perform various tasks on irregular terrain, but current systems are not reliable or adaptable enough for practical use. A traditional method for climbing stairs is to use knobbed tires or tracks which can grip the edge of the stairs. But with this method usually only one knob on each side of the vehicle grips the stairs because the spacing between the knobs does not necessarily coincide with the distance between steps. In this thesis, a new idea crawler is developed for the stair-climbing. Blocks are attached to the face of the crawler-belt and can change shape to match the edge of the steps. Therefore, a large friction force is obtained by the soft deformation of the blocks at every point along the belt. After experimenting with various types of substances, blocks filled with powder were chosen for their desirable deformation characteristics. The results of this stair-climbing experiment prove that this crawler has better reliability than other crawlers when ascending and descending stairs. Also, this crawler can change its posture when climbing stairs or obstacles and this is also used to increase the turning efficiency of the crawler.

Development of Advanced Portable Device for Daily Physical Assessment

Abstract: Main objective of this study was to propose an advanced method to evaluate one's physical activity by means of a portable device which is capable of long-term non-restrictive measurement. The device includes accelerometers and a barometer specially designed to catch features of vertical movements such as stair climbing. The embedded algorithm classified activity type and quantifies its exercise intensity in realtime. Usefulness of the proposed method was demonstrated in simple experiments. Healthy young and elderly subjects participated in the experiments. Two kinds of daily outdoor situations were considered in the experiment; mountain climbing and city walking. Experimental results showed that the method correctly classified all type of activities, and accomplished feasible energy consumption estimation in both situations. It was also suggested that the consideration of vertical movements made an improvement in energy consumption estimation, and then provided more precise and reliable estimation of physical activity.

Response in oxygen uptake and ventilation during stair climbing in patients with chronic heart failure

Abstract: To examine the level of muscular work and ventilatory response to stair climbing (mobile Stairmaster staircase, 1 step/2.5 s), respiratory gas exchange, ventilation, heart rate and arterial pressure were monitored in patients with chronic heart failure and their response compared with that of normal individuals. Aerobic capacity (maximal oxygen uptake) and anaerobic threshold during treadmill exercise were also determined and used to ascertain the metabolic cost of stair climbing. No differences were observed in the response of mean arterial blood pressure between the 12 patients and 10 normal subjects during exercise or recovery. However, the heart rate and oxygen consumption obtained during exercise were significantly lower in the patients with chronic heart failure than in the normal subjects (p