Robotic personal aids for mobility and monitoring for the elderly.
Two rehabilitation devices, or personal aids for mobility and monitoring (PAMM), for use by the elderly are presented. The devices are intended to delay the transition from eldercare (assisted living) facilities to nursing homes. The robotic PAMMs provide support, guidance, and health monitoring. Two experimental systems are described: a cane and a walker. Issues of mobility, sensing, and control, as well as experimental data from trials in an assisted living facility using both systems are presented.
Spenko
Matthew
M
Mechanical Engineering Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. mspenko@stanford.edu
Yu
Haoyong
H
Dubowsky
Steven
S
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002183:Canes; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D009069:Movement Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D012656:Self-Help Devices; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D014853:Walkers