STABILITY OF A SMART WALKER IN FALL RELATED EVENTS

Abstract

The development of a gait disorder leads to the loss of the ability to walk and increases the frequency of fall events. To help improve the lives of people affected by reduced mobility and return the patient’s own dependency and confidence, smart walkers (SW) are used to empower the user’s residual capacities and promote functional recovery. An example presented in this paper is the ASBGo Smart Walker, a customized motorized rehabilitation tool that provides an innovative combination of real-time multimodal sensory information. The design of this augmentative device is centered on safety and stability, both fundamental to provide rehabilitation to the affected individuals. In this paper, it is presented an assessment of the ASBGo Smart Walker’s stability during forward and lateral falls. To evalute if the SW has the ability to support the patient during a fall and not overturn, leading to fatal falls, theoretical stability tests were performed. These tests proved and verified the safety of the ASBGo SW, in most of the conditions and situations when the device is handled. Nonetheless, in order to minimize fall-related impact it is proposed in future work the implementation of prevention methods and strategies.