Paper:
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
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.
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Copyright© 2002 by Fuji Technology Press Ltd. and Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers. All right reserved.