Control of mobility assistive robot for human fall prevention

Abstract

Mobility assistance robots can provide physical and balance support in order to prevent falls of elderly or patients. In this paper we propose a fall prevention approach for a mobility assistance robot equipped with a pair of actuated arms. The algorithm evaluates the user's Extrapolated Center of Mass (XCOM) and determines required supportive forces to be provided to the user in order to prevent user falls. We further present how the required forces are realized by the robot. Performance of the proposed approach is tested in experiments by a mobility assistance robot supporting subjects provoking falls in different directions.