JP2000233001A - Driving method for walking auxiliary tool - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce load applied to the leg and easily enable walking by repeatedly turning on and off contacts disposed at the bottoms of the feet corresponding to the contact and separation between the foot part and the ground to drive a driving source disposed in each of both legs. SOLUTION: When the toe of the right foot is a little raised, a contact 8b' is turned off so that a rotary actuator 8 of the right leg is driven to bend the knee of the right leg. In such a state, when the right foot is raised and put forward to tilt the body, the heel of the left foot is a little raised to turn off a contact 8a". At this time, the drive of the rotary actuator 8 of the right foot is once stopped, consequently reversed, and simultaneously the drive of a rotary actuator 8 of the left foot is started. Since the contact 8a' of the right foot is moved when the right foot is grounded, the drive of the right and left rotary actuators 8 are stopped at this time, and immediately after the left foot is put forward, the right leg starts to bend and the left leg is stretched to conduct the walking action.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a walking aid for obtaining assistance in walking when worn by a person.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional walking aids, such as crutches, allow a person to walk on their own while supporting their weight. There is also an assisting device that moves around a person's whole body like a wheelchair. In the case of the aforementioned crutches, it is necessary for a person to move the crutch with his own arm,
For example, an operation such as walking with luggage is impossible. In the case of a wheelchair, it is expensive and requires a passage space, which is inconvenient for walking in a narrow place or a place such as a staircase.

[0003]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a walking aid that does not have a conventional walking aid, which can be easily worn by a person while wearing it and reducing the load on his / her feet. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of driving a walking aid that can be used for rehabilitation of a person who has been injured or who has been injured.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a first aspect of the present invention is a method of driving an assisting device for assisting a person to walk, wherein a driving source provided on both feet is provided. The contact provided on the bottom of the foot is driven by repeatedly entering and turning off in accordance with contact and separation between the foot and the ground. Therefore, when the walking aid of the present invention is worn, the drive source is controlled in conjunction with the movement of the foot, and a complicated control system for controlling the drive source is unnecessary, and a simple switch is used. The walking motion can be controlled only by the mechanism.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the walking aid includes a waist mounting portion fixed to the waist of the person, a buttocks support portion extending from the waist mounting portion to the crotch through the human buttocks, and the waist. A foot link rotatably connected to the mounting portion, the foot link being an upper link above the knee of the person and a ground below the knee rotatably connected to the upper link. And a drive source that bends and extends the upper link and the lower link. Therefore, when the walking aid of the present invention is worn, the hip support and the foot link are in contact with the ground when the knee is extended, and the weight of the person is supported by the hip support supported on the ground. The foot is constructed so that no burden is placed on the foot. Further, since a drive source for bending and extending the upper link and the lower link constituting the foot link is provided, it is possible to easily bend and extend the foot and to walk.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the driving source is a rotary actuator mounted on a fulcrum connecting the upper link and the lower link. Therefore, a simple and reliable driving force can be obtained for the expansion and contraction operation of bending and extending the knee with the connection fulcrum between the upper link and the lower link as the center of rotation.

In the invention of claim 4, the driving source is started by cutting off a contact point of a heel portion mounted on one foot, and thereafter, the walking motion is continued by sending out the bent leg forward. In addition, the actuator is characterized in that when the delivery of the foot being bent is stopped, it is regarded as a walking stop, and the actuator is stopped after extending both feet. Therefore, it is possible to easily control the start and stop of the walking motion, and it is possible to provide a walking aid effective for rehabilitation of a person who is injured with a foot or has no physical strength.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a walking aid according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a side view of the walking aid according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a side view of the work aid provided with the electric rotary actuator. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an example of the switch of the actuator of FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a flowchart when walking and the state of the switch at each position.

A walking aid according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 1 denotes a waist-mounted portion, which is formed in a U-shape along the waist of a person, and has bands 1a provided at both ends thereof so as to be firmly fixed to the waist. Outside the waist mounting portion 1, an outer waist mounting portion 3 that is rotatably connected to the waist mounting portion 1 around a fulcrum 1b is provided. Further, the outer waist attachment portion 3 is divided into two substantially in the middle, and a right outer waist attachment portion 3a and a left outer waist attachment portion 3b are respectively provided.

A foot link is mounted on the outer waist mounting portion 3, and an upper link 4 constituting the foot link is supported by a fulcrum 4c so as to be rotatable in the direction of arrow A. ing. Below the knee, a lower link 5 is pivotally supported at the upper link 4 and the fulcrum 4b so as to be rotatable in a direction in which the knee is bent. Band 5b is provided. When a person walks while wearing the walking aid of the present invention, the fulcrum 4b is used for bending the knee, and the fulcrum 1 is used for lifting the foot.
b, and when the foot swings outward or inward, the fulcrum 4
It is configured to be rotatable by c.

A hip support 2 extending from the buttocks to the crotch is provided on the waist mounting section 1. When the walking aid is worn and the knees are extended to stand up, the weight of the person is reduced by the hip support 2.
Through the outer waist mounting portion 3, the upper link 4 and the lower link 5 which are foot links, and are supported by the ground contact portion 6. That is, the person does not need to support his or her own weight, and is in a state of sitting on the buttocks support portion 2.

When walking, the knee is bent forward one leg at a time, so that a part of the weight is supported by the foot link of the unbent foot, so that it is possible to walk easily. In other words, even a person with an injured leg or a disabled person can walk on his or her own by wearing this walking aid.

In the walking aid shown in FIG. 2, a tension spring 7 is provided between the upper link 4 and the lower link 5 to urge the knee in a bending direction. With this configuration, it is possible for even a person who does not have a bending force on the knees or a person with a weak body to walk, and is an effective aid for rehabilitation and the like.

An electric rotary actuator 8 shown in FIG. 3 is mounted on a connecting fulcrum of the upper link 4 and the lower link 5, and is driven from a battery 9 placed outside the buttocks support 2 through a wiring 10. Electricity is supplied. The switches for this drive are composed of contacts 8a and 8b mounted on the back of the grounding section 6, and are provided on the left and right grounding sections, respectively. The switch unit is designed to be able to drive and stop the left and right rotary actuators 8 by pressing and releasing the switch unit from the ground. It is important that the driving range of the rotary actuator 8 is restricted. In this embodiment, a rotary actuator having a built-in reset switch for restricting the driving range is used.

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, the heel contact 8a 'of the right foot and the toe contact 8b', and the heel contact 8a "and the toe contact 8b" of the left foot. Although a switch mechanism was adopted, other than this method, for example,
The operation can be performed while holding the operation member in the hand, and there is no particular limitation.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart for walking and the ON / OFF state of the switch at each position. In order to indicate the state of the switch, the ON state of the switch is 1 and the OFF state is 0. This figure shows walking when stepping from the right foot, and when stepping from the left foot, the right foot and the left foot are rewritten. Once you start walking, you will continue to walk while sending the lifted foot forward, and if you keep the bend foot without sending it out, the reset switch will work at the set maximum bend To enter the walking stop operation. This is configured such that the drive works in a direction in which the foot that is bending is once extended, and the rotary actuator 8 stops at the origin position where both feet are extended. For this purpose, the rotatable operating range of the rotary actuator 8 is set in advance, and the set value may be changed by a person or according to the state of the person. It can be changed.

First, when the right foot is moved, when the toe of the right foot is slightly raised from the upright state (each switch state is 1111), the contact 8b 'is cut off (the switch state is 1011).
The rotary actuator of the right foot is driven, and the knee of the right foot is bent. In this state, if the right foot is lifted (the switch state at this time is 0011) and the body is tilted while sending forward, the heel of the left foot is slightly lifted, and the contact 8
a "is cut off. At this time, the drive of the rotary actuator of the right foot is temporarily stopped (that is, the switch state is 000).
1), and then starts the driving of the rotary actuator of the left foot at the same time as the reverse rotation. If the right foot, which is being extended by the reverse rotation of the rotary actuator of the right foot, comes into contact with the heel when the right foot is extended, the contact 8a 'of the heel portion of the right foot works (switch state is 1001). Stop the drive of the iterative actuator, stop the drive of the rotary actuator of the left foot, send the bent left foot forward, immediately start bending the right foot and extend the left foot to perform the walking motion . By controlling the driving of the left and right rotary actuators in this order,
It becomes possible to walk with the assistance of a rotary actuator.

For smooth walking, it is possible to change the time from when each contact works to when the rotary actuator starts or stops driving.

In the case of a person who can extend his or her own feet, it is possible to extend the knees of each of the feet simply by stopping the drive of the rotary actuator mounted on each of the feet. It is possible to walk by driving the rotary actuator only in the bending direction.

Since the rotation range of the rotary actuator 8 is limited, the foot does not bend too much or conversely, and the drive source is used to both bend and extend the foot. It is possible to use a driving source or a driving source for only one of the movements, and an optimal walking aid was obtained especially for rehabilitation of a person with weak physical strength.

[0021]

As described above, by using the walking aid equipped with the driving device according to the present invention, even a person with an injured foot or a person without physical strength can walk on his own. Furthermore, it can be used in places where wheelchairs cannot be used, such as narrow places and stairs. Also, in the upright state, your weight will be supported by the ground contact, it will be as if you are sitting on a chair,
It became possible to act more easily.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a walking aid according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the walking aid according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a work aid provided with an electric rotary actuator.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an example of a switch of the actuator of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a flowchart when walking and the states of switches at each position.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 waist mounting part 2 hip support part 3 outer waist mounting part 4 upper link 5 lower link 6 grounding part 7 tension spring (biasing member) 8 rotary actuator (electric member) 8a, 8b contact point (switch part) 9 battery

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A method of driving an assisting device for assisting a person to walk, wherein a driving source provided on each of the feet is provided, and a contact provided on a bottom of the foot is provided with a contact between the foot and the ground. A driving method for a walking aid, wherein the driving is performed by repeatedly entering and turning off in response to separation. 2. A walking support device, wherein the walking aid is fixed to a waist of a person, a hip support portion extending from the waist mounting portion to the crotch through the hips of the person, and the waist mounting portion is rotatable. A foot link connected to the upper link above the person's knee, and a lower link grounded to the ground below the knee rotatably connected to the upper link. The driving method for a walking aid according to claim 1, further comprising a driving source for bending and extending the upper link and the lower link. 3. The method of driving a walking aid according to claim 1, wherein the driving source is a rotary actuator mounted on a connecting fulcrum between the upper link and the lower link. 4. The driving source is started by cutting off a contact point of a heel part mounted on one foot, and thereafter, the walking operation is continued by sending out the foot that is being bent forward, and the driving operation is continued while being bent. 4. The actuator according to claim 1, wherein when the delivery of a certain foot is stopped, the actuator is regarded as a stop of walking, and is stopped after extending both feet.
The driving method of the walking aid according to any one of the above.