A Smart Robotic Walker With Intelligent Close-Proximity Interaction Capabilities for Elderly Mobility Safety
The elderly population has rapidly increased in past years, bringing huge demands for elderly serving devices, especially for those with mobility impairment. Present assistant walkers designed for elderly users are primitive with limited user interactivity and intelligence. We propose a novel smart...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Neurorobotics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbot.2020.575889/full |
| _version_ | 1828836268981616640 |
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| author | Xiaoyang Zhao Zhi Zhu Mingshan Liu Chongyu Zhao Yafei Zhao Jia Pan Zheng Wang Zheng Wang Chuan Wu |
| author_facet | Xiaoyang Zhao Zhi Zhu Mingshan Liu Chongyu Zhao Yafei Zhao Jia Pan Zheng Wang Zheng Wang Chuan Wu |
| author_sort | Xiaoyang Zhao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The elderly population has rapidly increased in past years, bringing huge demands for elderly serving devices, especially for those with mobility impairment. Present assistant walkers designed for elderly users are primitive with limited user interactivity and intelligence. We propose a novel smart robotic walker that targets a convenient-to-use indoor walking aid for the elderly. The walker supports multiple modes of interactions through voice, gait or haptic touch, and allows intelligent control via learning-based methods to achieve mobility safety. Our design enables a flexible, initiative and reliable walker due to the following: (1) we take a hybrid approach by combining the conventional mobile robotic platform with the existing rollator design, to achieve a novel robotic system that fulfills expected functionalities; (2) our walker tracks users in front by detecting lower limb gait, while providing close-proximity walking safety support; (3) our walker can detect human intentions and predict emergency events, e.g., falling, by monitoring force pressure on a specially designed soft-robotic interface on the handle; (4) our walker performs reinforcement learning-based sound source localization to locate and navigate to the user based on his/her voice signals. Experiment results demonstrate the sturdy mechanical structure, the reliability of multiple novel interactions, and the efficiency of the intelligent control algorithms implemented. The demonstration video is available at: https://sites.google.com/view/smart-walker-hku. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T18:19:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e1ebc7a3dfa64eb08bd8cd7484f99d34 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5218 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T18:19:04Z |
| publishDate | 2020-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Neurorobotics |
| spelling | doaj.art-e1ebc7a3dfa64eb08bd8cd7484f99d342022-12-22T00:16:12ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Neurorobotics1662-52182020-10-011410.3389/fnbot.2020.575889575889A Smart Robotic Walker With Intelligent Close-Proximity Interaction Capabilities for Elderly Mobility SafetyXiaoyang Zhao0Zhi Zhu1Mingshan Liu2Chongyu Zhao3Yafei Zhao4Jia Pan5Zheng Wang6Zheng Wang7Chuan Wu8Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong KongDepartment of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong KongDepartment of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong KongDepartment of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong KongDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong KongDepartment of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong KongDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong KongDepartment of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, ChinaDepartment of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong KongThe elderly population has rapidly increased in past years, bringing huge demands for elderly serving devices, especially for those with mobility impairment. Present assistant walkers designed for elderly users are primitive with limited user interactivity and intelligence. We propose a novel smart robotic walker that targets a convenient-to-use indoor walking aid for the elderly. The walker supports multiple modes of interactions through voice, gait or haptic touch, and allows intelligent control via learning-based methods to achieve mobility safety. Our design enables a flexible, initiative and reliable walker due to the following: (1) we take a hybrid approach by combining the conventional mobile robotic platform with the existing rollator design, to achieve a novel robotic system that fulfills expected functionalities; (2) our walker tracks users in front by detecting lower limb gait, while providing close-proximity walking safety support; (3) our walker can detect human intentions and predict emergency events, e.g., falling, by monitoring force pressure on a specially designed soft-robotic interface on the handle; (4) our walker performs reinforcement learning-based sound source localization to locate and navigate to the user based on his/her voice signals. Experiment results demonstrate the sturdy mechanical structure, the reliability of multiple novel interactions, and the efficiency of the intelligent control algorithms implemented. The demonstration video is available at: https://sites.google.com/view/smart-walker-hku.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbot.2020.575889/fullelderly safetyhuman-robot interactionintelligent controlfalling protectionsoft-robotic interfacecoaxial front following |
| spellingShingle | Xiaoyang Zhao Zhi Zhu Mingshan Liu Chongyu Zhao Yafei Zhao Jia Pan Zheng Wang Zheng Wang Chuan Wu A Smart Robotic Walker With Intelligent Close-Proximity Interaction Capabilities for Elderly Mobility Safety Frontiers in Neurorobotics elderly safety human-robot interaction intelligent control falling protection soft-robotic interface coaxial front following |
| title | A Smart Robotic Walker With Intelligent Close-Proximity Interaction Capabilities for Elderly Mobility Safety |
| title_full | A Smart Robotic Walker With Intelligent Close-Proximity Interaction Capabilities for Elderly Mobility Safety |
| title_fullStr | A Smart Robotic Walker With Intelligent Close-Proximity Interaction Capabilities for Elderly Mobility Safety |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Smart Robotic Walker With Intelligent Close-Proximity Interaction Capabilities for Elderly Mobility Safety |
| title_short | A Smart Robotic Walker With Intelligent Close-Proximity Interaction Capabilities for Elderly Mobility Safety |
| title_sort | smart robotic walker with intelligent close proximity interaction capabilities for elderly mobility safety |
| topic | elderly safety human-robot interaction intelligent control falling protection soft-robotic interface coaxial front following |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbot.2020.575889/full |
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