8th International Conference on Body Area Networks

Research Article

Speed Control of an Omnidirectional Walker by Forearm Pressures: Considering Features in Force Exertion with Forearms

  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/icst.bodynets.2013.253665,
        author={Yinlai Jiang and Shuoyu Wang and Renpeng Tan and Kenji Ishida and Yo Kobayashi and Masakatsu Fujie},
        title={Speed Control of an Omnidirectional Walker by Forearm Pressures: Considering Features in Force Exertion with Forearms},
        proceedings={8th International Conference on Body Area Networks},
        publisher={ICST},
        proceedings_a={BODYNETS},
        year={2013},
        month={10},
        keywords={omnidirectional walker forearm pressure control intention human-robot interface},
        doi={10.4108/icst.bodynets.2013.253665}
    }
    
  • Yinlai Jiang
    Shuoyu Wang
    Renpeng Tan
    Kenji Ishida
    Yo Kobayashi
    Masakatsu Fujie
    Year: 2013
    Speed Control of an Omnidirectional Walker by Forearm Pressures: Considering Features in Force Exertion with Forearms
    BODYNETS
    ACM
    DOI: 10.4108/icst.bodynets.2013.253665
Yinlai Jiang1,*, Shuoyu Wang1, Renpeng Tan1, Kenji Ishida2, Yo Kobayashi3, Masakatsu Fujie3
  • 1: Kochi University of Technology
  • 2: Kochi University
  • 3: Waseda University
*Contact email: jiang.yinlai@kochi-tech.ac.jp

Abstract

An omnidirectional walker (ODW) is being developed to support those who have walking difficulties with their indoor movement. In order to enable the user to control the ODW intuitively and safely, a novel human robot interface has been proposed in previous studies to recognize a user's control intentions, including direction, speed, and rotation, according to his/her forearm pressures. Since the features in the pressures exerted by the wrists and elbows are different due to human factors, such as handedness, height and body weight, it is necessary to recognize the control intentions with consideration of these features in order to improve the operability. The features of force exertion with forearms was therefore investigated in a measurement experiment, and was introduced into the calculation of the speed intention by changing the ratio of speed to force according to the direction. A control experiment demonstrated that the consideration of the features resulted in a smoother path and a less burden to the forearms.