Evaluation of the Gait of Elderly People using an Assisting Cart (Gait on Slope)

Kazuto Miyawaki; Takehiro Iwami; Goro Obinata; Keiichi Kutsuzawa; Shinzo Nishimura

doi:10.20965/jrm.2002.p0538

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JRM Vol.14 No.6 pp. 538-546

doi: 10.20965/jrm.2002.p0538

(2002)

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Evaluation of the Gait of Elderly People using an Assisting Cart (Gait on Slope)

Kazuto Miyawaki, Takehiro Iwami, Goro Obinata, Keiichi Kutsuzawa and Shinzo Nishimura

Akita Prefectural Technology Center, 4-11, Sanuki, Arayacho, Akita-shi, Akita, 010-1632 Japan

Received:

July 28, 2002

Accepted:

August 20, 2002

Published:

December 20, 2002

Keywords:

biomechanics, bio-motion, musculo-skeletal model, human walk, energy consumption

Abstract

As society ages, equipment for assisting walking is receiving increasing attention. We previously developed a cart to assist walking on flat surfaces and evaluated its effect on user muscular tension and energy consumption. In this paper, we determined energy consumption during slope walking based on a musculoskeletal model; 10% and 15% decreases of energy consumption are achieved with cart assistance in slope ascent and descent. We expect our evaluation to be useful for developing a practical walker.

Cite this article as:

K. Miyawaki, T. Iwami, G. Obinata, K. Kutsuzawa, and S. Nishimura, “Evaluation of the Gait of Elderly People using an Assisting Cart (Gait on Slope),” J. Robot. Mechatron., Vol.14 No.6, pp. 538-546, 2002.

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This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationa License.