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2016 | Book

Assistive Devices for Human Mobility and Gait Rehabilitation Read chapter Read first chapter

Human-Robot Interaction Strategies for Walker-Assisted Locomotion

Authors: Carlos A. Cifuentes, Anselmo Frizera

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Book Series : Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

This book presents the development of a new multimodal human-robot interface for testing and validating control strategies applied to robotic walkers for assisting human mobility and gait rehabilitation. The aim is to achieve a closer interaction between the robotic device and the individual, empowering the rehabilitation potential of such devices in clinical applications. A new multimodal human-robot interface for testing and validating control strategies applied to robotic walkers for assisting human mobility and gait rehabilitation is presented. Trends and opportunities for future advances in the field of assistive locomotion via the development of hybrid solutions based on the combination of smart walkers and biomechatronic exoskeletons are also discussed.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Assistive Devices for Human Mobility and Gait Rehabilitation
Abstract
Mobility is one of the most important human faculties and can be defined as the ability of an individual to move freely through multiple environments and perform daily personal tasks with ease (D.A. Winter, Biomechanics and Motor Control of Human Movement, Wiley, Hoboken, 2009, [1]). Neurological and age-related diseases affect human mobility at different levels causing partial or total loss of such faculty. In addition, mobility decreases gradually with age. Evidences show that mobility restrictions are also associated with cognitive and psychosocial disturbances, which further impairs the quality of life of the individual (A.S. Buchman et al., Cognitive function is associated with the development of mobility impairments in community-dwelling elders. Am. J. Geriatr. Psychiatr. 190(6):571-580, 2011, [2]). In this context, new technologies have emerged to improve the life conditions of people with motor impairments. Some remarks regarding the human locomotor system, mobility dysfunctions, assistive devices for enhancing mobility, functional compensation during walking and devices for gait rehabilitation will be presented in this chapter.
Carlos A. Cifuentes, Anselmo Frizera
Chapter 2. Human-Robot Interaction for Assisting Human Locomotion
Abstract
Nowadays, the use of robotics has extended from the industrial field to living and working places. Previous approaches to guide mobile robots often involved the human as an obstacle, which had to be avoided in any case. In contrast, this chapter will adapt concepts of human-robot interaction to propose new strategies, in which a robot must behave in a assistive way, not avoiding the human, and promoting human locomotion. This could be applied in the design of new devices for functional compensation and rehabilitation of the gait.
Carlos A. Cifuentes, Anselmo Frizera
Chapter 3. Development of a Cognitive HRI Strategy for Mobile Robot Control
Abstract
The concept of a physical and cognitive HRI for walker-assisted gait was presented in the previous chapter. The HRI is implemented by means of a multimodal interface, which is used to develop a natural human-robot interaction in the context of human mobility assistance. That way, both cHRI and pHRI were included in this interface. Specifically, this chapter describes the cHRI component, which combines two sensor modalities: active ranging sensing (LRF) and human motion capturing (IMU) to perform the human tracking. This sensor combination presents important advantages to monitor the human gait from a mobile robot point of view, such as mentioned in the previous last chapter.
Carlos A. Cifuentes, Anselmo Frizera
Chapter 4. Cognitive HRI for Human Mobility Assistance
Abstract
In previous approaches of robotics walkers, the user directly commands the robot motion during walking through a HMI. In this context, this chapter presents the implementation and validation of the concept of Cognitive HRI for human mobility assistance. In this approach, the user does not guide directly the walker during walking. In contrast, the walker follows close enough the user in order to provide partial body-weight support. This concept intends to achieve natural human-walker cooperation during the assisted-gait. This chapter also addresses the integration of the control strategy proposed in Chap. 3 on a robotic walker. That way, some remarks regarding the human-robot physical link demand a new human-walker parameters detection. Consequently, new validations were performed before performing the control implementation.
Carlos A. Cifuentes, Anselmo Frizera
Chapter 5. Multimodal Interface for Human Mobility Assistance
Abstract
The previous two chapters presented the implementation of the cHRI strategy for mobility assistance in the context of both mobile robots and smart walkers. In order to complete the physical and cognitive HRI for walker-assisted gait, this chapter introduces the physical HRI block. Afterwards, the cHRi and pHRi are integrated into a Multimodal Interface for Human Mobility Assistance. Additionally, some concepts regarding control strategies based on interaction forces during the walker-assisted gait are described and implemented.
Carlos A. Cifuentes, Anselmo Frizera
Chapter 6. Conclusions and Future Works
Abstract
As previously presented, there is a significant need to improve the ability of patients with gait impairments to promote safe and efficient ambulation. This work introduces some concepts that could be useful for the design of assistive and rehabilitation devices. Specifically, this book defines the concepts of physical and cognitive Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) for walker-assisted gait, with the aim of developing a more natural human-robot interaction.
Carlos A. Cifuentes, Anselmo Frizera
Metadata
Title
Human-Robot Interaction Strategies for Walker-Assisted Locomotion
Authors
Carlos A. Cifuentes
Anselmo Frizera
Copyright Year
2016
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-34063-0
Print ISBN
978-3-319-34062-3
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-34063-0