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Caster walkers are supporting frames with casters and wheels that are regularly used as walking-aids in hospitals, nursing homes, and by individuals. The casters and wheels of the walker provide mobility to elderly users. However, when the walker moves in unexpected directions, falling accidents often occur. These accidents pose a very serious problem and are one of the leading causes of secondary injuries and disorders. Caregivers support patients with impaired motor or sensory functions by standing next to them when they walk. The main interests of this study are the development of an intelligent walker and the realization of a safe walker for the elderly and disabled. In our previous study, we developed the intelligently controllable walker (i-Walker) that utilized compact MR fluid brakes in its wheels and a web camera. In addition, we had proposed a line-tracing controller for i-Walker, whose performance was evaluated by healthy subjects. In this study, three elderly subjects suffering from different disabilities used i-Walker, and we evaluate the effects of the line-tracing control in the elderly gaits. To perform this task, we installed on i-Walker a gait measurement sensor. The gait sensor measures the step lengths and stride widths of subjects, which we use in our evaluation. Each gait was evaluated on the basis of the positional error, reaching time, step length, and stride width. The results show that the line-tracing controller of i-Walker reduced positional errors, but increased reaching times. Moreover, the line-tracing control of i-Walker improved the balance in the step length and reduced the stride width of a subject suffering from imbalance motion caused by a fracture.

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Proper seating is very important for the severe cerebral palsy patients ， and has good influcnce on patients ' physical body and mentality ． The deformity Dfthe spine causes a gap between a back ofapatient and a wheel chair backrest ． Generally ， urethane cushions are used to fill up the gaps ． However ， this method eannot completely handle the deformation and posture of users ． In this paper， we have developed automatically transformable seating system with air pressure ． As a prellminary of the development ， we conducted eharacteristictests for the rubber bag ． Additionally ， we developed an intelligent seating system ( i − Seating)and we conducted back pressure tests ot ' the i−seating over the wheel chairand desk ． Key words ； Seating， Pneumatic control ， cerebra 且 palsy ， back pressure measurements 1．緒 言

The walking ability is very important in daily life. Lack of walking ability causes a decline in quality of life (QOL). The intelligently controllable walker (i-Walker) is a computer-aided walking support which recognizes environment and assists walking. In previous studies we has conducted several experiments and identified several problems. And we found that if there is mismatch between intent of user's operation and the control of i-Walker, it prevents smooth walking of users. To solve this problem, we developed a sensor walker (Pre-i-Walker4) and a prediction method by using support vector machine. Gait experiments were conducted by healthy users to evaluate the developed prediction model to predict stop, walk, turning left and right, and emergency.