Effect of wearable robot Bot Fit’s hip joint-centered assist torque and voice coach on walking

Abstract

Background The main key to the 4th industrial era is robots, and wearable robots are incorporated into human healthcare. Samsung Electronics' Bot Fit is a hip joint-centered assistive robot that can induce walking posture and energetic walking exercises. Methods This study is a cross-section study. Fifty-eight subjects consisting of older and younger adults participated. The straight walking test was conducted under the conditions of bare body, wearing the wearable robot Bot Fit assist mode, and applying voice coach. Spatio-temporal gait parameters were analyzed and the statistical significance level was set at 0.05. Results When assist mode and voice coach were applied, pelvic movement in 3 axes, stride length, walking speed, and swing phase ratio compared to the bare body increased, and in assist mode, the difference in left and right stride lengths decreased. Conclusion The appropriate combination of assist mode and voice coach can increase the effectiveness of walking exercise while wearing Bot Fit. Trial registration Clinical Research Information Service, KCT0007974. Registered 12/07/2022