1A2-F07 インテリジェント制御型歩行車(i-Walker)のカメラ画像に基づく方向制御と虚弱性高齢者を対象とした臨床実験

概要

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Forearm caster walkers, a kind of walking aid, are usually used for life support and walking rehabilitation in hospitals and nursing homes. Wheels and casters under this device help users to move smoothly, but at the same time it will cause falling accidents for physically fragile elderly people. In order to prevent falling accidents and unexpected movements of the caster walker, we have developed the intelligently controllable walker (i-Walker), in which magnetorheological (MR) fluid brakes are installed for direction and speed control of its wheels. The i-Walker also installs a generally-used web-camera in order to recognize a line drawn on the floor and trace it. This paper describes an image recognition method for a target line and a control method to trace the line. To validate the function of the i-Walker, clinical tests for physically fragile elderly people were conducted. The experimental results show that this device properly controls its direction if it is needed.