抄録
Along with the steadily rising elderly population in Japan, the number of aged persons with difficulties in walking is increasing. These patients undergo rehabilitation in hospitals which impose a constant and heavy burden upon the health care personnel who must assist them. For patients to rehabilitate by themselves, a walking support machine is needed that can unload their body weight and prevent them from falling down. This paper deals with safety devices (to unload patient's body weight and prevent falling down) used in a walking support machine. These devices consist of only mechanical components without actuators. The usefulness of these devices is experimentally examined.
