TW202312964A - Intelligent electric walker - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is an intelligent electric walker, which includes a walking unit, an auxiliary drive unit, a state detection unit, an intention detection unit, an environment detection unit, and a control unit. The auxiliary drive unit is located at the bottom of the walker unit. The state detection unit is set on the walking unit, and generates a posture signal according to the user's body posture. The intention detection unit is set on the walking unit, and generates the intention signal according to the user's intention to move the walking unit. The environment detection unit is set on the walking unit, and detects the state of the road surface traveled by the walking unit to generate a road condition signal. The control unit generates an auxiliary drive signals based on the posture signal, the intention signals and the road condition signals. The auxiliary drive unit can better assist the user in walking according to the auxiliary drive signal.

Description

Intelligent Electric Walker

The invention relates to a walking aid, especially an intelligent electric walking aid, which can drive the walking aid to advance according to the intention of the user.

In recent years, as the number of newborns has decreased year by year, and the proportion of the elderly population has gradually increased, the aging phenomenon of the social population has intensified. Internationally, the proportion of the population over 65 years old to the total population has reached 7%, 14% and 20%. They are called aging society, aging society and super-aging society respectively. For Taiwan, it became an aging society in 1993 and became an aging society in 2018. It is estimated that it will enter a super-aging society in 2025. The age of the elderly population The structure is rapidly aging. In 2020, the super-aged (over 85) population will account for 10.7% of the elderly population, and in 2070 the super-aged (over 85) population will increase to 27.4%.

From the above, we can see that Taiwan has already entered the threshold of an aging society, and is about to enter a super-aged society. With the trend of population aging, the industries related to elderly care, especially the assistive devices industry, are getting more and more attention. The reason is that various physiological functions of the human body gradually degenerate with age, and the common problems of physiological function degeneration in the elderly, such as: degeneration of the lower limbs cause gait instability, at this time, the elderly need auxiliary equipment to assist in walking. Walking aids are the most common walking aids. Walking aids usually have a bracket, and the bottom side of the bracket is provided with rollers for moving. When moving the walker, you need to hold the handrail with your hand and lift the bracket off the ground, then place it slightly forward on the ground to move forward for a short distance. For the elderly, it is not convenient to use.

In order to solve this problem, some smart walking aids have appeared on the market, which can be moved by motor-driven rollers without the user's hand pushing, but the step frequency of each person is different. If the moving speed driven by the motor is the same as the user's step frequency Different, it is easy to have an accident, which is not conducive to the use of the elderly. For example: Taiwan Invention Patent No. I377057 (invention name: walking aid with dynamic support and its application method, hereinafter referred to as the patent case 1), which provides a walking aid with dynamic support, which includes: A movable carrier; a power transmission device, located at a predetermined position of the carrier; a distance detector can be used to detect a first part and a second part on the user's body and the predetermined part of the carrier respectively The distance between; at least one control device is used to calculate each of the distances, and accordingly send a corresponding signal to the power transmission device, so that the power transmission device forces the carrier and the user to maintain within the set distance range; In order to provide support for the user and protect safety.

In addition, Taiwan No. I597060 Invention Patent (Invention Name: Electric Walking Aid Based on Man-Machine Position and Control Method of the Aid, hereinafter referred to as Patent No. 2), which controls and adjusts the distance and position of man-machine In this way, the electric walking aid and the user have a suitable position and distance in line with the user's stance and gait. The assistive device performs static and dynamic support functions relative to the user. The user is in the process of gait training. Both the dynamic and static situations of walking and standing interactions are supported by assistive devices.

However, in the above-mentioned prior patents, only the walker unilaterally assists the user in walking, or adjusts the distance between the walker and the user to provide static support and dynamic support, but the user cannot actively support the walker. Therefore, there are still many problems to be solved urgently for intelligent walking aids.

In view of the problems in the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide a smart walking aid that can respond to the user's control requirements in a timely manner, and can also actively provide adaptive adjustments to the external environment.

According to an object of the present invention, a kind of intelligent electric walking aid is provided, comprising a walking aid unit, an auxiliary drive unit, a state detection unit, an intention detection unit, an environment detection unit and a control unit, wherein the auxiliary drive unit is located at At the bottom of the walker unit, the state detection unit is located at the position where the walker unit faces the direction of the user, and generates gesture signals according to the user's body posture. The intention detection unit is located at the walker unit relative to the user. The user holds the position of the walking aid unit, and generates an intention signal according to the user’s moving intention of moving the walking aid unit. The environment detection unit is set on the walking aid unit, and detects the state of the road surface on which the walking aid unit is traveling to generate a road condition signal. The control unit then Connect the auxiliary drive unit, state detection unit, intention detection unit and environment detection unit, and receive and generate auxiliary drive signals according to the attitude signal, intention signal and road condition signal, so that the auxiliary drive unit can be used in conjunction with the auxiliary drive signal The user's body posture, moving intention and external road conditions drive the walking aid unit to move, so as to better assist the user in walking.

Wherein, the walking aid unit includes a bracket and an armrest, and the armrest is arranged at a position where the bracket is suitable for the user to hold, so that the user can hold the bracket conveniently.

Wherein, the bracket includes two driving wheel connecting rods and at least one driven wheel connecting rod. the other side of the stand.

Wherein, the auxiliary driving unit includes two driving wheels and at least one driven wheel, and the two driving wheels are arranged on one side of the bottom surface of the bracket, and further tied on the connecting rod of the driving wheels, while the driven wheels are arranged on the bottom surface of the bracket. The other side is further tied to the connecting rod of the driven wheel, and the driving wheel train is connected to the control unit, and receives a driving signal from the control unit to drive the bracket to move.

Among them, the state detection unit is one of the distance sensor or the image capture device or a combination of both, wherein the distance sensor is set at the position where the walking aid unit moves relative to the lower limbs of the user, and is further a bracket The direction between the two ends towards the user is used to detect the user's walking posture to generate a posture signal. The distance sensor can be a time-of-flight distance sensor, a laser distance sensor, an ultrasonic sensor The walking posture can be the distance between the user and the walking aid unit, the walking distance of the user's feet, or the height of the user's leg lift. The image capture device is also located at the position where the walking aid unit moves relative to the user's lower limbs. It captures the optical signal of the user's lower limb movement and converts it into an analog electrical signal, which is sent to the image processor for analog/ After processing such as digital conversion and color adjustment, the user's walking posture is detected to generate a posture signal. The image pickup device can be a photosensitive coupling device or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor.

Wherein, the intention detection unit includes a plurality of pressure sensors, which are set at the position where the walking aid unit is provided for the user to hold, and furthermore, are set on the armrest, and each pressure sensor is set on the armrest. On the surface or around the outer surface, more preferably, each pressure sensor is arranged on the upper surface of the armrest or around the outer surface and arranged in an array, and each pressure sensor respectively senses the user's grip on the armrest. The state of the pressure distribution produces an intention signal.

Among them, the environment detection unit is a six-axis gyroscope, which is used to detect the three-axis angle between the walking aid unit and the road surface, the moving speed and acceleration of the walking aid unit, etc. to generate road condition signals. The signal can indicate that the current road conditions are flat ground, uphill, downhill and the current speed of the walking aid unit.

Wherein, the control unit can be a microcontroller, a digital signal processor or a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).

To sum up, in addition to providing walking assistance, the present invention also adjusts the distance between the walking aid unit and the user to provide static support and dynamic support for the user in different usage situations, and furthermore, the user can actively Provide the intention signal to the control unit, so that the control unit can synthesize the attitude signal, intention signal and road condition signal to generate the auxiliary driving signal, so that the control unit can drive the auxiliary driving unit in a better control mode, so that the user can drive more stably and safely in different use on the road.

In order to make the object, technical solution and advantages of the present invention clearer, the present invention will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described here are only used to explain the present invention, but not to limit the present invention.

Please refer to Figures 1 and 2, the present invention is an intelligent electric walking aid, including a walking aid unit 1, an auxiliary drive unit 2, a state detection unit 3, an intention detection unit 4, an environment detection unit 5 and a control unit 6. The walking aid unit 1 includes a stand 10 and an armrest 12 . The armrest 12 is located at a position where the stand 10 is suitable for the user to hold, so that the user can hold the stand 10 conveniently. The bracket 10 includes two driving wheel connecting rods 100 and at least one driven wheel connecting rod 102. These two driving wheel connecting rods 100 are arranged on one side of the bracket 10, and are separated from each other by a distance, and the shapes are symmetrical to each other. The rod 102 is set on the other side of the bracket 10 . More specifically, the bracket 10 includes two driving wheel connecting rods 100 and two driven wheel connecting rods 102, wherein one driving wheel connecting rod 100 is connected to one of the driven wheel connecting rods 102, and the other driving wheel connecting rod 100 is connected to the other. The driven wheel is connected to the rod 102, so that the bottom of the bracket 10 forms a quadrangular shape.

In the present invention, referring to Fig. 1 again, the auxiliary driving unit 2 is arranged at the bottom of the walking aid unit 1, and the auxiliary driving unit 2 includes two driving wheels 20 and at least one driven wheel 22, the two driving wheels 20 It is set on one side of the bottom surface of the bracket 10, and further is respectively set on one of the driving wheel connecting rods 100, and the driven wheel 22 is set on the other side of the bottom surface of the support 10, and is further set on one of the driven wheel connecting rods. on the rod 102, and the driving wheel 20 is connected to the control unit 6, and receives the driving signal from the control unit 6 to drive the bracket 10 to move. In terms of the forward direction of the user holding the walking aid unit 1, the two driving wheel connecting rods 100 are arranged on the side of the walking aid unit 1 close to the user, and the two passive wheel connecting rods 102 are located on the side of the walking aid unit 1 1 away from the side of the user, so that the two driving wheels 20 are arranged on the two driving wheel connecting rods 100 and the two driven wheels 22 are respectively arranged on the driven wheel connecting rods 102, just like a rear wheel driven car, by The two passive wheels 22 at the front control the moving direction.

In the present invention, please refer to FIG. 1 again, the state detection unit 3 is set at the position where the walking aid unit 1 faces the direction of the user, and generates a posture signal according to the walking posture of the user's body. The walking posture can be the distance between the user and the walking aid unit 1 , the walking distance of the user's feet, or the height of the user's legs. The reason why the state detection unit 3 detects the user's walking posture is to provide the control unit 6 with an understanding of whether an appropriate distance is maintained between the user and the walking aid unit 1, so that the user will not be too close or too close to the walking aid unit 1. Too far, to avoid the walking aid unit 1 tripping the user's footsteps.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the state detection unit 3 is one of a distance sensor or an image capture device or a combination of both, wherein the distance sensor is set on the walking aid unit 1 relative to the user. The moving position of the lower limbs is further the direction between the two ends of the bracket 10 towards the user, which is used to detect the user's walking posture to generate a posture signal. The distance sensor system can be a time-of-flight distance sensor, a laser distance sensor, an ultrasonic sensor or an infrared sensor, and the image capture device is also located in the distance sensor system in the walking aid. Unit 1 is relative to the moving position of the user's lower limbs, which captures the optical signal of the user's lower limbs and converts it into an analog electrical signal, which is sent to the Image Signal Processor for analog/digital conversion (Analogy/Digital conversion) and color adjustment After processing, the user's walking posture is detected to generate a posture signal. The image capture device can be a charge-coupled device (Charge-coupled Device, abbreviation: CCD) or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor, abbreviation: CMOS).

In the present invention, please refer to Figures 3 and 4, the intention detection unit 4 is located at the position where the walking aid unit 1 is held relative to the user, and generates an intention signal according to the movement intention of the user pushing the walking aid unit 1 , the intention detection unit 4 is composed of a plurality of pressure sensors 40, which are located at the position where the walking aid unit 1 provides the user to hold, and furthermore, are located on the armrest 12, and each pressure sensor 40 is set On the upper surface of the handrail 12 or around the outer surface, more preferably, each pressure sensor 40 is arranged on the upper surface of the handrail 12 or around the outer surface and arranged in an array, and each pressure sensor 40 respectively senses The pressure distribution state generated by the user holding on the armrest 12 generates an intention signal.

2 and 5, the environment detection unit 5 is set on the walking aid unit 1, and detects the road condition of the walking aid unit 1 to generate a road condition signal, and the control unit 6 is connected to the auxiliary drive unit 2, the state detection unit The detection unit 3, the intention detection unit 4 and the environment detection unit 5 receive and generate auxiliary driving signals according to the attitude signal, intention signal and road condition signal, so that the auxiliary driving unit 2 can cooperate with the user's body according to the auxiliary driving signal The posture, moving intention and external road conditions drive the walking aid unit 1 to move, so as to better assist the user in walking. The environment detection unit 5 is a six-axis gyroscope, which is used to detect the three-axis angle between the walking aid unit 1 and the road surface, the moving speed and acceleration of the walking aid unit 1, etc. to generate road condition signals. Further, The road condition signal can indicate that the current road condition is level ground, uphill, downhill and the current traveling speed of the walking aid unit 1 .

Wherein, the control unit 6 can be a microcontroller, a digital signal processor or a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).

In one embodiment of the present invention, referring to FIG. 3 , the position above the armrest 12 is close to the front end, the position above the armrest 12 is close to the rear end, the position below the armrest 12 is close to the front end, and the position below the armrest 12 is close to the rear. Four pressure sensors 40 are respectively provided at the end positions, and when the user intends to move in various directions, the pressure changes sensed by each pressure sensor 40 will be as follows: 1. When the user wants to move forward, the pressure of each pressure sensor 40 held by the user on the handlebar is roughly average, and the pressure sensor 40 at the position near the rear end above the armrest 12 is slightly larger, so it is considered The move intention to move forward produces the signal of the intention to move forward. 2. When the user wants to move backwards, the pressure of each pressure sensor 40 held by the user on the handlebar is roughly average, and the pressure sensor 40 near the front end of the handrail 12 is slightly larger. Based on this, it is considered Move-Intent Move Back Generates an intent signal to move backward. 3. When the user intends to move to the left, the pressure of each pressure sensor 40 that the user grips the handle has the following difference. The pressure sensor 40 on the right side above and below the handrail 12 sense The detected pressure will be greater than the pressure sensed by the pressure sensor 40 on the left side, so it is considered that the movement intention moves to the left and generates a backward movement intention signal. 4. When the user wants to move to the right, the pressure of each pressure sensor 40 that the user holds the handle has the following difference. The detected pressure will be greater than the pressure sensed by the pressure sensor 40 on the right side, and accordingly it is considered that the movement intention moves to the right to generate a backward movement intention signal.

As mentioned above, when the user intends to move in other directions, the pressures of the upper and lower pressure sensors 40 of the handrail 12 will have different magnitudes, which will be generated according to the distribution of the pressure sensed by each pressure sensing value. The intention signal is transmitted to the control unit 6 through the intention signal, so that the control unit 6 can confirm the direction that the user wants to move, and then control the rotation speed and acceleration of the auxiliary driving device to achieve the purpose of controlling the moving direction.

According to the above, the present invention can be like a traditional electric walker, provide the appropriate power needed to assist walking by the auxiliary drive device, and also adjust the distance between the walker unit 1 and the user to maintain an appropriate distance, providing the user with Static support and dynamic support in different usage scenarios. Most importantly, the user can actively provide intention signals of different moving directions to the control unit 6 through the intention detection unit 4, so that the control unit 6 can synthesize the attitude signal, the intention signal and the road condition signal to generate an auxiliary driving signal, so that the control unit The unit 6 drives the auxiliary drive unit 2 in a better control manner, so that the user can use it more stably and safely on different road surfaces.

The above detailed description is a specific description of the feasible embodiments of the present invention, but the foregoing embodiments are not intended to limit the patent scope of the present invention, and any equivalent implementation or change that does not depart from the technical spirit of the present invention shall be included in In the patent scope of this case.

1: walking aid unit 10: Bracket 12: Armrest 100: Driving wheel connecting rod 102: Passive wheel connecting rod 2: Auxiliary drive unit 20: driving wheel 22: passive wheel 3: Status detection unit 4: Intent detection unit 40: Pressure sensor 5: Environmental detection unit 6: Control unit

Fig. 1 is a three-dimensional schematic view of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic circuit block diagram of the auxiliary drive unit, the state detection unit, the intention detection unit, the environment detection unit and the control unit of the present invention. Fig. 3 is an enlarged schematic diagram of part A circled in Fig. 1 . Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of the use state of the present invention. Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of another usage state of the present invention.

1: walking aid unit

10: Bracket

12: Armrest

100: Driving wheel connecting rod

102: Passive wheel connecting rod

20: driving wheel

22: passive wheel

3: Status detection unit

Claims (12)

An intelligent electric walking aid, comprising: a walking aid unit; An auxiliary driving unit, the auxiliary driving unit is arranged at the bottom of the walking aid unit; A state detection unit, the state detection unit is arranged at the position where the walking aid unit faces the direction of a user, and generates a posture signal according to the body posture of the user; An intention detection unit, the intention detection unit is set at the position of the walking aid unit relative to the user's grip, and generates an intention signal according to the movement intention of the user to push the walking aid unit; An environment detection unit, the environment detection unit is set on the walking aid unit, and detects the state of the road surface on which the walking aid unit is traveling to generate a road condition signal; and A control unit, the control unit is set on the walking aid unit and connected to the auxiliary drive unit, the state detection unit, the intention detection unit and the environment detection unit, and receives and according to the attitude signal, the The intention signal and the road condition signal generate an auxiliary driving signal, so that the auxiliary driving unit can drive the walking aid unit to move in accordance with the user's body posture, moving intention and external road conditions according to the auxiliary driving signal. The intelligent electric walking aid as described in claim 1, wherein the walking aid unit includes: a bracket; and At least one armrest, each of the armrests is located at a position suitable for the user to hold the bracket. The intelligent electric walking aid as described in claim 2, wherein the bracket includes: Two driving wheel connecting rods, the two driving wheel connecting rods are arranged on one side of the bracket, separated from each other by a certain distance, and the shapes are symmetrical to each other; At least one driven wheel connecting rod is tied on the other side of the bracket. The intelligent electric walker as described in claim 3, wherein the auxiliary drive unit includes: Two driving wheels, the two driving wheels are arranged on the connecting rod of the driving wheels; at least one driven wheel, tied to the connecting rod of the driven wheel; Wherein, the two driving trains are connected to the control unit, and receive the auxiliary driving signal from the control unit to drive the support to move. The intelligent electric walking aid according to claim 1, wherein the state detection unit is one of a distance sensor or an image capture device or a combination of both. The intelligent electric walking aid as described in claim 5, wherein the distance sensor is set at the position where the walking aid unit moves relative to the user's lower limbs, and detects the user's walking posture to generate a posture signal. The intelligent electric walking aid as described in claim 5, wherein the walking posture is the distance between the user and the walking aid unit, the walking distance of the user's feet, or the height of the user's leg lift. The intelligent electric walking aid as described in claim 5, wherein the image capture device is set at the position where the walking aid unit moves relative to the user's lower limbs, and the image capture device captures the light signal of the user's lower limb movement It is converted into an analog electrical signal, sent to an image processor for analog/digital conversion and color adjustment, and then detects the user's walking posture to generate a posture signal. The intelligent electric walking aid as claimed in claim 1, wherein the intention detection unit includes a plurality of pressure sensors located at the position where the walking aid unit is held by the user. The intelligent electric walking aid as described in claim item 9, wherein each of the pressure sensors is arranged on the upper surface of the handrail or around the outer surface, and each of the pressure sensors senses that the user holds the The resulting pressure distribution on the handrail generates the intent signal. The intelligent electric walking aid according to claim 9, wherein each of the pressure sensors is arranged on the upper surface or around the outer surface of the handrail and arranged in an array. The intelligent electric walking aid as described in claim 1, wherein the environment detection unit is a six-axis gyroscope, which is used to detect the angle of the three-axis direction between the walking aid unit and the road surface, the angle of the walking aid unit The traffic signal is generated by moving speed and acceleration, etc.

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