Gait Adaptable Human-Robot Interaction System and its Application to a Robotic Walker

Abstract

A novel human-robot interaction system for human walking companion and gait adaption was developed in this study. Four inertial measurement units (IMU) attached to user's lower limbs were used to detect gait, and a pressure sensor was used to measure the human-robot interaction force. Based on the fusion of them human walking intention was detected and applied to the control of a wheeled robotic walker to accompany user walking and adapt user's gait. Experiments under different walking speed with five healthy subjects were performed to evaluate the performance of the interaction system. The variation of the interaction force during walking trial was 7.2 N on average. The results show that with the interaction system, the robotic walker accompanied subjects well during walking.