Speed control of an omnidirectional walker by forearm pressures [considering features in force exertion with forearms]

An omnidirectional walker (ODW) is being developed to support those who have walking difficulties with their indoor movement. In order to enable the user to control the ODW intuitively and safely a novel human robot interface has been proposed in previous studies to recognize a user's control intentions, including direction, speed, and rotation, according to his/her forearm pressures. Since the features in the pressures exerted by the wrists and elbows are different due to human factors, such as handedness, height and body weight, it is necessary to recognize the control intentions with consideration of these features in order to improve the operability. The features of force exertion with forearms was therefore investigated in a measurement exper-iment, and was introduced into the calculation of the speed intention by changing the ratio of speed to force according to the direction. A control experiment demonstrated that the consideration of the features resulted in a smoother path and a less burden to the forearms.