In order to improve the mobility of persons who can use only one hand for the manipulation of a wheelchair, for example, due to the hemiplegia, various one hand drive wheelchairs, such as a lever type and a double ring type, are marketed. However, in the outdoors, the physical load by using one hand drive wheelchair increases because there are the rough surface and the slope. Therefore, we consider that various assist functions, such as power assist function, the reverse prevention function on the upward slope and so on, are required to the one hand drive wheelchair in order to use it in the outdoors. We have proposed a simple and useful manipulation torque detection mechanism until now. By using the proposing detection mechanism, even if the grasping position of a hand on hand rim changes, the accurate detection of manipulation torque can be realized. Therefore, it improves the controllability and the operability of the wheelchair. And if the manipulation force of hand-rim can be estimated by a simple method, it is possible to know the relationship between the manipulation and the manipulator's state. We will expect that this method is effectively used for such as a rehabilitation field. In this paper, we carried out the experiment to find out the relationship between load and strain generated on the detection part by using the hand rim unit, which was implemented the torque detection mechanism we have developed. And from detected strains, we have found a method for estimating the manipulation force of a one hand drive wheelchair.
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