Adaptability of Assistive Mobility Devices and the Role of the Internet of Medical Things: Comprehensive Review (Preprint)

Abstract

UNSTRUCTURED With the projected upsurge in the percentage of persons with some form of disability, there is a significant increase in the need for assistive mobility devices. However, these mobility aids are hardly effective without their ability to adapt to the user’s needs. This is achieved by improving the confidence of the information used or interaction between the user and his device also referred to as adaptation. In the recent past, there has been little effort to provide literature reviews on the adaptability of assistive mobility devices (AMDs). This paper systematically reviews the recent assistive mobility technologies, over the past decade, according to their adaptation and the role that the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) has played in the adaptability of these technologies. The information gathered in the study provides awareness of the status of adaptive mobility technology and serves as a source and reference of information to healthcare professionals, and researchers. The paper starts by highlighting recent technologies according to the user system interface (human/device interface), then presents some recent technologies in perception and sensor fusion (autonomous navigation) for adaptability, and finally, IoMT frameworks for AMDs. Some notable limitations are also discussed. The findings of the review reveal that an improvement in the adaptation of assistive mobility systems would require a reduction in the training time and avoidance of cognitive overload. Furthermore, sensor fusion and classification accuracy are critical to achieving real-world testing requirements. Finally, the trade-off between cost and performance needs to be considered in the commercialization of these devices.