JP2005245637A - Walking assist - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a walking assist having a usable structure in a narrow space by setting an interval between a leg and a leg narrow in a regular use state, and having a structure resisting to fall even if a walker loses balance. <P>SOLUTION: This walking assist is provided with a walking assist body 11 assisting the walking by supporting a part of the body of the walker, a leg mechanism 13 supporting the walking assist body 11 by a plurality of legs 14 having many joints 15, 16 and 17 and performing a walking operation, a leg mechanism control part 32 controlling the leg mechanism 13, and an inclination detecting part 31 detecting the inclination of the walking assist body 11. The leg mechanism control part 32, when the inclination detecting part 31 detects the inclination of the walking assist body 11, allows the walking assist body 11 to adjust the angle of the joints of the legs 14 of the leg mechanism 13 to take falling prevention posture. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a walking assistance device that assists walking by supporting a part of the body of a person who performs walking training or a person who is difficult to walk by himself.

  Elderly people with weak muscles in the legs and legs, sick people who are unable to walk on their own due to illness or injury, use walking aids for walking in daily life. Hospitals and the like use walking aids for walking training for rehabilitation.

In the conventional walking assist device, a wheel is attached to a walking assist device main body that supports a part of a pedestrian's body, and the walking assist device main body is rolled by the wheel to assist the walking of the pedestrian (for example, (See Patent Documents 1 and 2).
As walking aids, so-called wheelbarrow-type walking aids are often used in which a handrail is provided on the rear side of a wheeled walking aid, and a pedestrian stands behind the walking aid and moves while pushing the handrail. .
In addition, as a walking assistance device with wheels having another shape, a device that supports a pedestrian standing in the center and supporting the pedestrian so as to surround the pedestrian is also used.
For example, a three-wheel walking aid having a shape as shown in FIG. 5 (a) is a front view and FIG. 5 (b) is a bottom view. The walking assist device 100 includes a U-shaped frame 101 serving as a handrail and three fixed legs 102 and a wheel 103 attached to the tip of the fixed leg 102. At least one wheel 103 (the front wheel in this example) can change the traveling direction freely. In this walking assist device 100, a pedestrian enters the frame of the U-shaped frame 101 and walks while holding the frame 101 by hand and supporting the entire body with the frame.
JP 2000-157585 A JP 2000-23003 A

In such a walking assist device, it is necessary to have a structure in which a pedestrian does not easily fall during use. In order to make the structure difficult to fall over, it is desirable to make the distance between the legs (exactly the distance between the wheels) as large as possible. For example, in order to prevent a person from falling in the lateral direction (direction in which both shoulders are connected), the width W between the two rear legs 103 (rear wheels) shown in FIG.
Usually, a person's lateral width is about 40 cm. However, for example, in the walking assistance device of FIG. 5, when the width W between the legs is increased to about 60 to 70 cm, it can be stabilized to the extent that the leg hardly falls.
However, if stability is obtained by increasing the width W, the width dimension of the walking aid increases as compared to the width of the pedestrian itself. Collide and make it difficult to move around. On the other hand, if the distance of the width of the walking aid is shortened, the stability is deteriorated and the structure easily falls.

  In addition, walking aids with wheels are easy to roll. Therefore, contrary to the pedestrian's intention, the walking aid may unexpectedly advance first, resulting in an accident in which the pedestrian falls. In particular, when used on a sloping ground, the walking assistance device naturally rolls from a high position to a low position, and the walking assistance device exerts a force for pulling a pedestrian, which requires attention.

Therefore, the present invention has a structure in which the distance between the legs is narrow when the walking assist device for assisting the walking motion is in a normal use state, and the pedestrian is easy to use even in a narrow place such as at home. However, even if the balance is lost for any reason, it is an object to provide a walking assist device having a structure that does not easily fall over.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a walking assistance device that does not cause a fall accident caused by the movement of the walking assistance device against the intention of the pedestrian due to the wheel rolling.

The walking assist device of the present invention made to solve the above problems is a walking assist device body that supports a part of a user's body and assists walking, and a plurality of legs having joints. A leg mechanism that performs a walking motion, a leg mechanism control unit that controls the leg mechanism, and a tilt detection unit that detects the tilt of the walking assist device main body. When the inclination of the walking assist device body is detected, the angle of the joint of the leg portion of the leg mechanism is adjusted so as to prevent the walking assist device body from falling.
In addition, the angle of the joint is set so that the distance between the legs becomes narrow in the normal use state, and the angle of the joint of the leg in the fall direction changes when preventing the fall of the walking assist device main body. .
In addition, when returning to the original state after the angle of the joint of the leg is changed to prevent the fall, the tilt detection unit detects the tilt angle of the walking assist device body, and the leg mechanism control unit detects the detected tilt. Based on the angle, the angle of the joint of the leg is returned to the original state.

According to the walking assist device of the present invention, the walking assist device main body performs the walking motion by the leg mechanism while supporting a part of the body of the pedestrian. The body may be supported by holding a handrail like a handcart, or by supporting a whole body so that a pedestrian stands in the walking assistance device.
The walking assist device main body moves during the walking motion, but does not move when the walking motion is stopped. In particular, even on sloping ground, it does not roll as it is supported by wheels. Therefore, a fall accident due to the movement of the walking assistance device main body against the intention of the pedestrian is eliminated.
Further, when the inclination of the walking assist device main body is detected by the inclination detection unit, the angle of the joints of the leg parts is adjusted, so that the posture is prevented from falling. Thereby, when the walking assist device main body is about to fall down, the angle of the joint of the leg can be adjusted to prevent the fall.

  In addition, if it becomes necessary to prevent the walking assist device body from falling, changing the angle of the leg joint in the falling direction to prevent the fall will result in stability in normal use. In order to give priority to usability, the distance between the legs can be narrowed and used, and when necessary, it can be transformed into a stable posture that does not fall.

    Further, when returning to the original state after the angle of the joint of the leg is changed to prevent the fall, the tilt detection unit detects the tilt angle of the walking assist device body, and the leg mechanism control unit detects the detected tilt. If the angle of the joint of the leg is returned to the original state based on the angle, it can be gradually restored to a safe posture according to the inclination of the pedestrian, and it can safely return to the horizontal state Can do.

Below, the walk auxiliary device of the present invention is explained, referring to drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control system of a walking assist device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining the external configuration of the walking assist device and the movement of the legs. FIG. 2 (a) is a front view in a normal use state, and FIG. 2 (b) is a normal use state. FIG. 2 (c) is a front view of the vehicle when it is in a position to prevent overturning.

First, the external configuration of this walking assistance device will be described with reference to FIGS.
The walking assist device includes a walking assist device main body 11, a handle portion 12 attached to the upper rear portion of the walking assist device main body 11, and a leg mechanism 13 attached to the lower portion of the walking assist device main body 11.

  The walking assisting device main body 11 has a width W between the left and right legs (distance between the leg 14a and the leg 14b) substantially the same as the width of a person, and a length L (legs) between the front and rear legs. The distance between the portion 14a and the leg portion 14c) is longer than that. Therefore, it has a structure that easily falls in the left-right direction and does not easily fall in the front-rear direction.

The leg mechanism 13 includes four leg portions 14 (14a to 14d) on the left front, right front, left rear, and right rear.
For convenience, in the following description, the left front leg is denoted by “a”, the right front leg is denoted by “b”, the left rear leg is denoted by “c”, and the right rear leg is denoted by “d”. When it is not necessary to specify or generically, the symbols “a to d” are not attached. The right rear leg 14d does not appear in the drawing because it is the back of the right front leg 14b in FIG. 2A and the back of the left front leg 14a in FIG. 2B.

Each leg 14 has a first joint 15, a second joint 16, and a third joint 17. A rubber 18 is attached to the distal end side of the third joint 17 so as not to slip when the leg portion 14 is grounded. In FIG. 2, since the right rear leg 14d does not appear in the figure, 15d, 16d, and 17d are not shown.
In the initial state, that is, in the normal use state, the leg mechanism 13 is in a state where the joint is contracted so that the width W between the left and right leg portions is shortened.

The first joint 15 is used to move the leg 14 back and forth, the second joint 16 is mainly used to move the leg 14 up and down, and the third joint 17 is used to move the leg 14 left and right. Use when spreading.
And only the 1st joint 15 of each leg part 14 is independently moved like a pendulum, so that the walking assistance apparatus main body 11 can be advanced without changing the left and right width W of the leg part 14. It is.
Further, by moving the second joint 16 and the third joint 17, the leg portions 14 are widened outward in the left-right direction so that the width W between the legs in the left-right direction is increased, thereby preventing falls. is there.

In the present embodiment, as described above, the walking assist device main body 11 is structured so as not to fall down in the front-rear direction by increasing the length L between the legs in the front-rear direction. Only against this, the posture to prevent falling is taken.
If it is desired to prevent overturning in the front-rear direction as well, it is possible to rotate the legs 14 in the so-called three-axis (XYZ-axis) directions using at least three joints. The legs can be stretched in the direction to be able to take a posture to prevent falling.

Next, a control system for controlling the operation of the leg mechanism 13 will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG.
The walking assist device 10 includes a walking SW (walking switch) 21 and a restoration SW (restoration switch) 22 for inputting operation instructions, a force sensor 23 for inputting necessary external information, a microphone 24, an inclination sensor 25, and the like. The control part 20 which receives and controls the input signal sent from the sensor of this, and the leg mechanism 13 controlled by the control part 20 are comprised.
The control unit 20 includes a CPU and a ROM / RAM, and performs various calculations and controls. The control unit 20 includes a voice recognition unit 26, a tilt detection unit 31, and a leg mechanism control unit 32 in connection with the control of the leg mechanism 13.

Subsequently, each part will be further described. The walking SW 21 is a switch for starting a walking operation by the walking assist device 10, and is provided as a button switch in the handle portion 12. When the walking SW is in the OFF state, the leg mechanism 13 of the walking assist device 10 is in the stopped state. In addition, since the rubber | gum 18 is attached to the grounding surface of the walking assistance apparatus 10 instead of a wheel, the walking assistance apparatus 10 does not move by rolling or sliding even if it is a slight slope. By turning on the walking SW, the leg mechanism 13 starts the forward walking motion for the first time.
The restoration SW 22 is a switch for starting an operation of restoring the original state after the walking assist device 10 shifts to the fall prevention posture. Like the walking SW 21, the restoration SW 22 is provided as a button switch. . By turning on the restoration SW 22, the joint angle of the deformed leg portion 14 gradually returns to the original state, and accordingly, the pedestrian also gradually returns to the original state.

The force sensor 23 detects an acceleration (force) generated when the pedestrian presses the handle portion 12, and is used to determine a direction in which the pedestrian is going to advance from the detected acceleration. That is, when the pedestrian pushes the handle forward to advance, the acceleration in the forward direction is detected, and the forward direction is determined to be the front. Further, when the pedestrian pulls the handle to stop, it is determined that the backward acceleration works and is about to stop.
Note that when the walking SW 21 is turned on and off as in the case of simple walking training with only forward movement, it is not necessary to perform input by the force sensor 23.
The microphone 24 is used for giving an input instruction by an audio signal. A voice signal input via the microphone 24 is analyzed by a voice recognition unit 26 of the control unit 20 described later.
The tilt sensor 25 detects the tilt angle of the walking assist device main body 11. The inclination angle detected by the inclination sensor 25 is sent to an inclination detection unit 31 of the control unit 20 to be described later, and is used for determining whether the vehicle is in a fallen state.

  In the voice recognition unit 26, voice signals of command words related to walking motions such as “forward”, “stop”, “backward”, “right turn”, “left turn”, etc. are registered in advance, and the voice signals input thereto are registered. The input word is judged by a known pattern comparison method using the signal. For example, if the word “forward” is recognized, the voice recognition unit 26 instructs the leg mechanism control unit 32 described later to perform “forward”.

The inclination detection unit 31 stores a threshold value for determining a state where the overturning operation has started (referred to as a overturn start state). When the inclination angle signal from the inclination sensor 25 is received, the differential coefficient is calculated, and it is determined whether the vehicle is in a fall start state by comparison with a threshold value. When it is determined that the vehicle is in the fall start state, a signal is output to inform the leg mechanism control unit 32 of information on the fall direction and the strength of the state change. The determination of the fall start state is not based on the output value of the tilt sensor 25, but by using the differential coefficient of the output value of the tilt sensor 25 and making the determination based on the steepness of the change. To make a good judgment.
Further, the angle of the joint of the corresponding leg portion 14 is adjusted according to the differential coefficient of the output value of the inclination sensor 25. For example, when the differential coefficient of the output value of the inclination sensor 25 is large, it receives a strong force and will be greatly inclined in the future, so that the leg opening angle of the leg portion 14 in the falling direction is increased. To be controlled.

  The leg mechanism control unit 32 receives the signal from the walking SW 21, the restoration SW 22, the force sensor 23, the voice recognition unit 26, and the signal that informs that the vehicle is in a fall start state from the tilt detection unit 31, and Control the operation.

Next, the control operation of the walking assist device 10 by the control system will be described using the flowchart of FIG. Here, for the sake of simplicity, an operation when only a forward walk (normal walk) is performed and a fall is started for some reason will be described. For this reason, the control by the force sensor 23 and the microphone 24 is not performed, and the description thereof is omitted.
(S101):
The process waits for the pedestrian to turn on the walking SW (walking switch).
In addition, since walking is stopped in the state where the walking SW 21 is OFF, the pedestrian does not receive force from the walking assist device 10 and does not fall down.
(S102):
The leg mechanism 13 contracts the second joint 16 and the third joint 17 and maintains the normal use state in which the width W between the left and right legs (between the legs 14a and 14b) is narrowed. In this state, normal walking, here only forward walking is performed. The normal walking is performed, for example, by moving the first joint 15 of the leg portion 14 like a pendulum alternately left and right. At this time, since the width W between the left and right legs is narrowed, the chance of colliding with surrounding objects is reduced, the small turn is effective, and the wheel does not advance while rolling, Even if it is an inclined surface, the walking assist device main body 11 does not roll or slide, and the walking motion of the pedestrian can be safely assisted.
(S103):
The output change of the inclination sensor 25 that detects the inclination of the walking assist device main body 11 is monitored. If the output has changed, the process proceeds to S104. If no output change is detected, the process returns to S102.
(S104):
A differential coefficient of the output change of the inclination sensor 25 is calculated, and compared with a preset threshold value, if it is equal to or greater than the threshold value, it is determined that the vehicle has started to fall, and the process proceeds to S105.
(S105):
It is calculated from the change in the output of the inclination sensor 25 and the differential coefficient that the leg 14 in the direction in which the fall started is started, and the joint angle of the leg 14 is adjusted so as to prevent the fall. Specifically, the bending angle of the second joint and the third joint of the corresponding leg portion 14 is widened so that the corresponding leg portion 14 extends outward in the left-right direction so that the width W widens and falls. Try to take a posture to prevent. Thereby, the fall of a pedestrian and the walk assistance apparatus main body 11 is avoided. Then, it progresses to S106 (S106):
The process waits for the pedestrian to turn on the restoration SW, and proceeds to S107 if turned on.
(S107):
While the inclination angle is monitored by the inclination sensor 25, the leg portion 14 of the walking assist device 10 gradually returns the leg opening angles of the second joint 16 and the third joint 17 to return to the origin, that is, the normal use state. Do. In this way, the walking assist device main body 11 and the pedestrian gradually return to the horizontal state, eventually return to the original state, and the fall prevention posture is reset. Then, it progresses to S108.
(S108):
The walking assist device returns to the walking posture, enters a waiting state for walking SW, and returns to S101.

  By executing the above operation flow, the walking assist device 10 assists the walking motion of the pedestrian by causing the leg mechanism 13 to perform the walking motion. It will prevent falling by extending to the left and right outside.

In the present embodiment, the number of the leg portions 14 is four in order to perform a stable operation. However, the number of the leg portions 14 is not limited to this, and if it is two or more, in principle, a fall prevention posture can be taken. However, for practical use, it is desirable that the number is four, and if it is more, the manufacturing cost is excessive.
In addition, each leg has three joints, the first, second and third joints. However, if at least each of the joints of each leg 14 is made of two or more multi-joints, the fall prevention in some directions is prevented. You can take a posture. And if it has three or more joints so that it can rotate to what is called three axes (XYZ axes orthogonal to each other), a fall prevention posture can be taken in all directions.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining the external configuration and the movement of the leg portion of the walking assist device according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 (a) is a front view in a normal use state, and FIG. FIG. 4B is a side view in the normal use state, and FIG. 4C is a front view when the body is in a position for preventing the fall.
4 that are the same as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

In the walking assistance device 10a of FIG. 4, a space for a pedestrian to enter is provided in the center of the walking assistance device main body 11a. There is a door 28 at the rear of the walking assist device main body 11a, and a pedestrian can enter by opening the door 28. A pedestrian who has entered the walking assist device main body 11a is supported by the walking assist device main body 11a while standing.
And the flow similar to FIG. 3 is performed by pushing walk SW21a provided in the upper surface of the walking assistance apparatus main body, and restoration SW22a. As a result, the walking assist device 10a assists the walking of the pedestrian by the leg mechanism 13 performing a walking motion, and if it should fall, the leg portion 14 in the falling direction extends to the left and right outside and falls. Can be prevented.

    INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used as a walking assist device used when an elderly person or the like walks independently or when a patient performs walking training for rehabilitation in a hospital.

The block block diagram which shows the structure of the walking assistance apparatus which is one Embodiment of this invention. The figure explaining the external appearance structure and operation | movement state of the walking assistance apparatus which are one Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart explaining an example of operation | movement of the walking assistance apparatus which is one Embodiment of this invention. The figure explaining the external appearance structure and operation state of the walking assistance apparatus which are other one Embodiment of this invention. The block diagram of the conventional walking aid.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10: Walking assistance apparatus 11: Walking assistance apparatus main body 12: Handle part 13: Leg mechanism 14 (14a-14d): Leg part 15 (15a-15d): 1st joint part 16 (16a-16d): 2nd joint part 17 (17a-17d): 3rd joint part 18: Rubber (non-slip)
20: Control unit 21: Walking switch 22: Restoration switch 31: Inclination detection unit 32: Leg mechanism control unit

Claims (3)

A walking assist device body that assists walking by supporting a part of the body of the pedestrian,
A leg mechanism that supports the walking assist device main body by a plurality of legs having multiple joints and performs a walking motion;
A leg mechanism control unit for controlling the leg mechanism;
An inclination detection unit that detects the inclination of the walking assist device main body,
The leg mechanism control unit adjusts the angle of the joint of the leg part of the leg mechanism so as to prevent the walking assist device body from overturning when the tilt detection unit detects the tilt of the walking assist device body. Walking assist device. The leg mechanism control unit controls the angle of the joint so that the distance between the legs becomes narrow in normal use, and changes the angle of the joint of the leg in the fall direction when preventing the fall of the walking assist device body The walking assist device according to claim 1, wherein the walking assist device is controlled to prevent falling. When returning to the original state after the angle of the joint of the leg has changed to prevent falling, the tilt detection unit detects the tilt angle of the walking assist device body, and the leg mechanism control unit sets the detected tilt angle to the detected tilt angle. The walking assist device according to claim 1, wherein the angle of the joint of the leg portion is returned to the original state based on the basis.

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