Development of Robotic IV pole for Reducing Risk of Falling

Abstract

This study develops the robotic IV pole for reducing the risk of falling. The risk of falling caused by tripping over the conventional IV pole while walking can be reduced by having the IV pole autonomously move side by side with the user (the user does not touch the IV pole). The Robotic IV pole comprises omni-wheels, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), Raspberry Pi, and Arduino Due. The proposed method is a controlling method for following the user’s travel direction and keeping distance between the robotic IV pole and the user, using a point cloud of the user’s both feet that can be obtained by LiDAR. An experiment confirms whether the proposed algorithm can follow the user’s travel direction and keep the distance between the robotic IV pole and the user. As a result, both algorithms work well.