Monitoring Walker Assistive Devices: A Novel Approach Based on Load Cells and Optical Distance Measurements

Viegas, Vítor; Pereira, M.; Postolache, Octavian; Girão, Pedro Silva

doi:10.3390/s18020540

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 21 publications

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“…Viegas et al [ 16 ] described a system which allows a four-legged smart walker to collect data about the load the users put on each walker leg using load cells and the relative position of the user to the walker using a LIDAR. This information is transmitted using Bluetooth to an external device and can be used to guide the users in the correct use of the device and prevent dangerous situations.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Smart Walker for People with Both Visual and Mobility Impairment

Mostofa

Feltner

Fullin

et al. 2021

Sensors

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In recent years, significant work has been done in technological enhancements for mobility aids (smart walkers). However, most of this work does not cover the millions of people who have both mobility and visual impairments. In this paper, we design and study four different configurations of smart walkers that are specifically targeted to the needs of this population. We investigated different sensing technologies (ultrasound-based, infrared depth cameras and RGB cameras with advanced computer vision processing), software configurations, and user interface modalities (haptic and audio signal based). Our experiments show that there are several engineering choices that can be used in the design of such assistive devices. Furthermore, we found that a holistic evaluation of the end-to-end performance of the systems is necessary, as the quality of the user interface often has a larger impact on the overall performance than increases in the sensing accuracy beyond a certain point.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%