A Cloud-backed Smart Walker for the Elderly

Professor Wu, Chuan   (Principal Investigator (PI))

Professor Luo Hao   (Co-Investigator)

Dr Wang Zheng   (Co-Investigator)

12

2020-10-19

2021-10-18

258803

A Cloud-backed Smart Walker for the Elderly

Cloud-backed, Elderly, Smart Walker

Others - Mechanical, Production and Industrial Engineering

Engineering (E)

InP/351/20

Research Talent Hub for ITF Projects (RTH-ITF)

2020

Completed

This project aims to design and develop the set of technologies to achieve a convenientto- use intelligent walker for the elderly. Mobility support has been crucial for enabling active, independent and quality life of the ageing population, which can not only slow overall functional decline, but also reduce health care costs by delaying premature institutionalization. Our smart walker is intended to play an active role in an elderly person's daily life, with three fundamental functionalities that do not exist or not well supported by (smart) walkers in the market: (1) smart walking assistance; (2) fall prevention and support; (3) autonomous mobility. The set of mechanical, control, sensory, AI and cloud computing technologies to enable them, which we will develop, include: (1) novel walker mechanical structure with omnidirectional mobility and outrigger mechanisms; (2) dual-mode actuation and control for walking/standing support and fall prevention/recovery; (3) multimodal sensory data collection through soft sensory skin, and data processing on device and in the cloud, for event detection and control such as elderly front following and fall detection; (4) sound-source localization for elderly localisation and auto-navigation of walker; (5) pilot user study with elderly users, with subjective and objective feedback measurements to evaluate the developed walker.