Development Report:
Development of Train-Boarding Assistance Device for Wheelchair
Keunyoung Kim, Hiroshi Kobayashi, Kenta Matsumoto, and Takuya Hashimoto
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tokyo University of Science
6-3-1 Niijuku, Katsushika-ku, Tokyo 125-8585, Japan
Wheelchair users require the assistance of station staff when boarding trains due to step differences and the gap between the platform and train. Therefore, they feel stressed in the movement with the train. In addition, the burden on station employees is increasing with the increasing number of wheelchair users at railway stations. In this study, an assistance device is proposed to address these challenges. This device can be used with any existing wheelchair, platform, and train and does not require external power sources, such as electricity. Using this device, a wheelchair user can board a train independently without assistance.
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- [2] S. Takeshi, S. Tsunoda, and T. Nakagawa, “Development of wheelchair mobility support robot in station,” JR East Technical Review, No.33, pp. 51-54, 2010 (in Japanese).
- [3] T. Hosaka and T. Imamura, “Basic design and analysis of boarding and alighting assistance device for passenger on wheelchair at railway use,” Proc. of the 2018 JSME Conf. on Robotic and Mechatronics, No.18-2, June 2018 (in Japanese).
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