1P1-G06 筋力低下患者への食事支援システムの開発

概要

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This paper introduces an exoskeletal device for eating in cooperation with residual functions of progressive muscle dystrophy patient. This support system is enhanced for an easier to use user interface and more comfortable support on eating by adopting a trackball interface and a joystick interface and by adding one degree of freedom on a shoulder joint. In order to control multiple DOF of the device by the trackball controller or the joystick controller with less DOF, the support system simulates upper limb motions of a healthy person by finding correlations between height of a hand and height of an elbow joint in daily activities. As a result, a user has only to control a position of the hand, while a height of the elbow joint is automatically controlled by the system as simulating a healthy person's motion. Through some experiments, we confirmed that the supported motions were precise and much more natural than before and that a healthy person who simulated muscle dystrophy finished her meal in shorter time.