Motion support during the swing phase using cooperative walking support system

Abstract

Walking support systems have been developed for supporting the motion of the elderly and physically disabled. In this research, we propose a walking support system based on the cooperation between wearable-type and cane-type walking support systems for supporting hemiplegic patients with disabilities. The system is controlled based on the intended motion of the user, their state and environmental information. In this system, we aim to realize several functions for supporting the daily life of the user by cooperatively controlling each walking support systems including walking support, sit-to-stand assistance, navigation, fall prevention and so on. As the first step to build this system, we focus on the walking support in this paper. For realizing the walking support, we propose a wearable-type walking support system that assists leg motion during the swing phase based on the motion of a cane-type walking support system moved by the user. © 2013 Taylor & Francis and The Robotics Society of Japan.