Development of intelligent walker with dynamic support

Walking as a basic ability of human beings enables independent activity. For people with a walking disability, however, walking can be very difficult and often requires a walker. Most mechanical or mechanical-electrical walkers available today come with various defects and fail to offer satisfactory movement support. The strategy to maintain a constant distance between the user and walker, as proposed by Goro, has good potential for implementing an ideal walker, but it still has some problems in terms of reference points to the human body and its framework design. Thus, the purpose of this research is to solve these problems by developing a walker with dynamic support and verify its clinical feasibility. In this study, a specific relationship between the person's ankle and the walker position was identified. Consequently, the distance between the ankle and walker was detected and then used to control walker movement. In addition, a powered transmission device and omni-directional wheels were utilized to ensure sturdy support and good turning functionality. The results of the experiments in this study indicated the maximal force of pushing forward of this new walker was 58.3N, or 5-8 times as high as a 4-wheeled walker, and its lateral pushing force was up to 84N. In terms of turning functionality, the new walker had a radial range of 12-13.1 cm, which was the same as that of the 4-wheeled walker, and there was an improvement in terms of functionality compared to Goro's walker.