Abstract
For many elderly, wheeled rollators play an essential role in everyday life’s mobility. In addition, exoskeletons are increasingly used in daily mobility as well as in rehabilitation therapy. We present a motorized rollator to combine the advantages of both support devices. Based on the developed hardware, we design two model-based control concepts. The first relies on distance measurement with ultrasonic sensors, which enables contactless navigation of the rollator, to allow balance training with the exoskeleton. The second control concept enables the balancing of the rollator on its rear wheels as a first step to overcome stairs. Through experiments on the real system, we demonstrate and discuss the functionality and reliability of both control concepts.
Zusammenfassung
Für viele ältere Menschen spielen Rollatoren eine wesentliche Rolle bei der Mobilität im Alltag. Darüber hinaus werden auch Exoskelette zunehmend in der Alltagsmobilität und Rehabilitationstherapie eingesetzt. Um die Vorteile beider Unterstützungssysteme zu kombinieren, stellen wir einen motorisierten Rollator vor. Basierend auf der entwickelten Hardware entwerfen wir zwei modellgestütze Steuerungskonzepte. Das erste basiert auf einer Abstandsmessung mit Ultraschallsensoren und realisiert eine berührungslose Navigation des Rollators, um Balancetraining mit dem Exoskelett zu ermöglichen. Das zweite Regelungskonzept ermöglicht das Ausbalancieren des Rollators auf den Hinterrädern, als ersten Schritt, um in Zukunft Stufen zu überwinden. Durch Experimente am realen System demonstrieren und diskutieren wir die Funktionalität und Zuverlässigkeit beider Regelungskonzepte.
About the authors
Lukas Bergmann was born in Mettingen, Germany, in 1994. He received a bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering with a focus on systems and automation from RWTH Aachen University, Germany, in 2015 and 2018, respectively. Since 2019 he has been working as a Ph.D. candidate in the Biomechanical Motion Research Group at the Chair for Medical Information Technology, RWTH Aachen University. His major research interests are rehabilitation robotics, control engineering, and mechatronic systems.
Lea Hansmann was born in Herdecke, Germany, in 1997. She received the bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering with a focus on Biomedical Engineering from RWTH Aachen University, Germany, in 2019. Since 2019 she has been studying for the master’s degree in electrical engineering with a focus on systems and automation.
Steffen Leonhardt (SM’06) was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1961. He received the M.S. degree in computer engineering from the University at Buffalo, NY, USA, the Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany, the M.D. degree in medicine from J.W. Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, and the Dr.h.c. (Honorary) degree from Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic. In 2003, he was appointed a Full Professor and the Head of the Chair for Medical Information Technology at RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany. In 2018, he was appointed a Distinguished Professor with IIT Madras, Chennai, India. He serves as an Associate Editor of the IEEE journal of biomedical & health informatics and ieee transactions on biomedical circuits & systems.
Chuong Ngo received the master’s degree in electrical engineering and information technology from Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, in 2011, and the Ph.D. in medical information technology from RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany, in 2019. Since 2018, he has been the Head of the Biomechanical Motion Research Group, Medical Information Technology, RWTH Aachen University. His main research interests include respiratory modeling and diagnostics, rehabilitation robotics, control, and gait analysis.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the students Phillip Zunzer and Mert Özcan for their support in the context of the wheelie control. Parts of this work have already been presented at the 26th International Student Conference on Electrical Engineering (POSTER) 2022 in Prague.
-
Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
-
Research funding: We gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the foundation Stiftung Universitätsmedizin Aachen.
-
Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this article.
References
[1] N. M. Gell, R. B. Wallace, A. Z. Lacroix, T. M. Mroz, and K. V. Patel, “Mobility device use in older adults and incidence of falls and worry about falling: findings from the 2011–2012 national health and aging trends study,” J. Am. Geriatr. Soc., vol. 63, no. 5, pp. 853–859, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.13393.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
[2] C. Dune, P. Gorce, and J. Merlet, “Can smart rollators be used for gait monitoring and fall prevention?” in Proc. IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. Int. Rob. Sys., 2012, pp. 1–6.Search in Google Scholar
[3] J. Ballesteros, C. Urdiales, A. B. Martinez, and M. Tirado, “Automatic assessment of a rollator-user’s condition during rehabilitation using the i-walker platform,” IEEE Trans. Neural Syst. Rehabilitation Eng., vol. 25, no. 11, pp. 2009–2017, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1109/tnsre.2017.2698005.Search in Google Scholar
[4] N. Mostofa, C. Feltner, K. Fullin, et al.., “A smart walker for people with both visual and mobility impairment,” Sensors, vol. 21, no. 10, pp. 1–16, 2021. https://doi.org/10.3390/s21103488.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
[5] G. Moustris, N. Kardaris, A. Tsiami, et al.., “The I-walk assistive robot: a multimodal intelligent robotic rollator providing cognitive and mobility assistance to the elderly and motor-impaired,” in Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics, vol. 18, 2021, pp. 31–45.10.1007/978-3-030-71356-0_3Search in Google Scholar
[6] T. D. Modise, N. Steyn, and Y. Hamam, “Human feet tracking in arranging the navigation of a robotic rollator,” in 2017 IEEE AFRICON: Science, Technology and Innovation for Africa, AFRICON 2017, Cape Town, IEEE, 2017, pp. 88–93.10.1109/AFRCON.2017.8095461Search in Google Scholar
[7] S. D. M. Sierra, M. Garzón, M. Múnera, and C. A. Cifuentes, “Human–Robot–environment interaction interface for smart walker assisted gait: AGoRA walker,” Sensors, vol. 19, no. 13, pp. 1–29, 2019. https://doi.org/10.3390/s19132897.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
[8] G. Zeilig, H. Weingarden, M. Zwecker, I. Dudkiewicz, A. Bloch, and A. Esquenazi, “Safety and tolerance of the ReWalkTM exoskeleton suit for ambulation by people with complete spinal cord injury: a pilot study,” J. Spinal Cord Med., vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 96–101, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1179/2045772312y.0000000003.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
[9] S. Wang, L. Wang, C. Meijneke, et al.., “Design and control of the MINDWALKER exoskeleton,” IEEE Trans. Neural Syst. Rehabilitation Eng., vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 277–286, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1109/tnsre.2014.2365697.Search in Google Scholar
[10] A. J. Smith, B. N. Fournier, J. Nantel, and E. D. Lemaire, “Estimating upper extremity joint loads of persons with spinal cord injury walking with a lower extremity powered exoskeleton and forearm crutches,” J. Biomech., vol. 107, p. 109835, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2020.109835.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
[11] L. Bergmann, O. Lück, D. Voss, et al.., “Lower limb exoskeleton with compliant actuators: design, modeling, and human torque estimation,” IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatron., 2022, https://doi.org/10.1109/tmech.2022.3206530.Search in Google Scholar
[12] E. G. Dos Santos, F. Leonardi, and M. Ackerman, “Optimal control of the wheelchair wheelie,” in Proceedings of the 6th IASTED International Conference on Modelling, Simulation and Identification, MSI 2016, 2016, pp. 218–224.10.2316/P.2016.840-051Search in Google Scholar
[13] X. Zhang, J. Li, Z. Hu, et al.., “Novel design and lateral stability tracking control of a four-wheeled rollator,” Appl. Sci., vol. 9, no. 11, p. 2327, 2019. https://doi.org/10.3390/app9112327.Search in Google Scholar
[14] F. Grasser, A. D’Arrigo, S. Colombi, A. C. Rufer, “JOE: A mobile, inverted pendulum,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 107–114, 2002. https://doi.org/10.1109/41.982254.Search in Google Scholar
[15] R. E. Kalman, “Contributions to the theory of optimal control,” Bol. Soc. Mat. Mex., pp. 102–119, 1960.Search in Google Scholar
[16] J. B. Rawlings and D. Q. Mayne, Model Predictive Control: Theory and Design, vol. 57, Madison, Wisconsin, Nob Hill Pub, 2009.Search in Google Scholar
[17] A. E. Bryson, “Optimal control-1950 to 1985,” IEEE Control Syst., vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 26–33, 1996. https://doi.org/10.1109/37.506395.Search in Google Scholar
© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston