Abstract
The purpose of our study is to develop “Walking Assisting System” that assists the aged and alternative people to walk by themselves, and that can be used as a welfare system to take care of them. Since this system moves by compressed air, no harmful substances are used, and it can apply power as flexibly as human muscles do. Additionally, even in any unexpected situations, the shock and burden to the person using the system are kept to the minimum.
This system not only supports walking on level ground but also assists the movement of the knee joint in walking up and down the stairs, by sensing and acknowledging the walking place of the user and sending compressed air into the pneumatic cylinder at the appropriate timing. In this study, we have installed the acceleration sensors instead of previous inclination sensors, and collected walking data from a wide variety of people with different body sizes and walking speed. Then, we have pursued a control system which can distinguish and assist steady walking in any condition, by generalizing the unique personal factors of various people and determining the discrimination conditions for each of them.
