WO2024018844A1

WO2024018844A1 - Falling prevention device

Info

Publication number: WO2024018844A1
Application number: PCT/JP2023/023531
Authority: WO
Inventors: 秀樹水野
Original assignee: 株式会社ダイセル
Priority date: 2022-07-21
Filing date: 2023-06-26
Publication date: 2024-01-25
Also published as: JP2024014037A

Abstract

A falling prevention device according to the present disclosure comprises: a seat unit on which a user sits; a motion assist unit that is disposed in the seat unit and assists the user in a motion to stand up when the user shifts from a seated state on the seat unit to a standing state; a sensor that detects the motion and state of the user; a balance determination unit that determines the posture of the user on the basis of a signal from the sensor, measures a deviation of the posture from a specified state, and determines the deviation as a balance state; and an operation control unit that controls the motion assist unit on the basis of the balance state determined by the balance determination unit, so that the motion assist unit operates to help the posture of the user move closer to the specified state. This makes it possible to provide a technique to assist the user in standing up and prevent the user from falling.

Description

Fall prevention device

The present invention relates to a fall prevention device.

For elderly people and people with physical disabilities, it may be difficult for them to stand up from a seated position, and it is hoped that devices that assist them in standing up will become more widespread.

Patent Document 1 discloses a starting mechanism that moves the seat part that supports the user's buttocks upward while maintaining the horizontal state when the user is seated; A sit-to-stand assist chair is disclosed which is characterized by being equipped with a stand-up assist mechanism that tilts the rear side high.

Patent Document 2 discloses an air-tight mat that is used by directly or indirectly using air, and has a cross-sectional structure in which the rear part expands higher than the front part by blowing air. There is.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-377 Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-288027

In the case of people (users) who have difficulty standing up and use assistive devices, in addition to lacking muscle strength, they may also lack the ability to maintain balance, so it may be necessary to forcefully push the user's body up using the assistive device to stand up. This poses a problem in that it tends to cause ``staggering'' and ``falling over'' after standing up.

The technology of the present disclosure was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a technology that prevents a user from falling when assisting the user to stand up.

In order to solve the above problems, the fall prevention device of the present disclosure includes:
A seating section where a user sits;
a movement assisting part that is disposed on the seating section and assists the user in standing up when transitioning from a state seated on the seating section to a standing state;
a sensor that detects the user's movements and conditions;
a balance determination unit that determines the posture of the user based on a signal from the sensor, measures the deviation of the posture with respect to a prescribed state, and determines it as a balanced state;
an operation control unit that controls the movement assisting unit based on the balance state determined by the balance determining unit, and operates the movement assisting unit so that the posture of the user approaches a prescribed state;
Equipped with.

In the fall prevention device, the movement assisting section includes an actuator that independently drives a plurality of regions arranged front and rear, or left and right, or front and rear and left and right on a seating surface of the seating section that is in contact with the user; By causing the actuator to operate each area of the seating surface with a different amount of motion under the control of the motion control section, the motion assisting section adjusts the amount of assistance given to the user so that the posture of the user is regulated. Assistance may be provided to bring the patient closer to the state of

In the fall prevention device,
The sensor measures the load due to the left foot and the load due to the right foot on the floor or ground where the user places his feet when standing up,
The balance determining section may determine the balance state based on a ratio of a load due to the left foot to a load due to the right foot.

In the fall prevention device,
The sensor is
In addition to a first sensor that measures the load on the floor surface or the ground,
The seating surface may further include a second sensor that measures the load on the seating surface.

In the fall prevention device,
The sensor is
In addition to a first sensor that measures the load on the floor surface or the ground,
The device may further include an upper body sensor that is attached to the upper body of the user and detects at least one of the posture and movement of the upper body.

In the fall prevention device,
The actuator may be provided within the seating portion, and may cause the seating surface to be raised or depressed in each region.

In the fall prevention device,
The actuator is
A mechanism in which a bag-shaped container that expands or contracts by supplying and discharging fluid raises the seating surface by expanding and causes the seating surface to cave in by contracting, or
The seating surface may be provided with a mechanism for raising or lowering the seating surface by reciprocating or rotating a drive source.

In the fall prevention device,
It further includes an alarm unit that outputs an alarm,
When the user transitions to a standing state, the balance determining unit determines whether the balance state of the user is out of a predetermined range based on a signal from the sensor;
The alarm unit may output an alarm when it is determined that the balance state of the user is out of a predetermined range.

According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a technology that prevents a user from falling when assisting the user to stand up.

FIG. 1 is a side view showing the configuration of the fall prevention device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a front view of the fall prevention device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the fall prevention device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a front view showing an example of driving the actuator according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a side view showing an example of driving the actuator according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of the control section. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a fall prevention method of the fall prevention device executed by the control unit. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the configuration of the fall prevention device according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a front view showing an example of driving the actuator according to the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a side view showing an example of driving the actuator according to the second embodiment.

Hereinafter, a fall prevention device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the configurations and combinations thereof in the embodiments are merely examples, and additions, omissions, substitutions, and other changes to the configurations can be made as appropriate without departing from the gist of the present disclosure. This disclosure is not limited by the embodiments, but only by the claims.

<First embodiment>
≪Device configuration≫
FIG. 1 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of the fall prevention device 1 according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a front view of the fall prevention device 1 according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a top view of the fall prevention device 1 according to the present embodiment. 1 is a plan view of FIG. In FIGS. 1 to 3, the up-down direction is shown as the Y direction, the left-right direction is shown as the X direction, and the front-back direction is shown as the Z direction. In the following description, the right hand side of a seated user is referred to as the right side, and the left hand side of the user is referred to as the left side. These directions are shown as examples for convenience of explanation, and the configuration of the fall prevention device 1 is not limited thereto. The same applies to subsequent drawings.

The fall prevention device 1 is a chair-shaped device installed on a surface 20 on which a user attempts to stand up (hereinafter also referred to as a stand-up target surface), such as a floor or the ground. The fall prevention device 1 includes a seating section 11 on which a user sits, legs 12 that support the seating section 11, a backrest 13, a movement assisting section 15, a sensor 16, and a control section 17. Note that the fall prevention device 1 may be used by being attached to an existing chair, and in this case, elements included in the chair, such as the legs 12 and the backrest 13, may be omitted.

The seating section 11 includes a generally rectangular parallelepiped-shaped casing 111 that houses a control section 17 and the like. Legs 12 extend downward from the four corners of the casing 111, and a backrest is provided at the rear of the casing 111. 13 is erected upward. Furthermore, a motion assisting section 15 is provided at the top of the housing 111, and the upper surface of the motion assisting section 15 serves as a seating surface 151. In the examples shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the seating portion 11 is supported by four legs 12, but the configuration is not limited to this, and any configuration may be used as long as the user can sit on it. For example, the fall prevention device 1 may have a structure in which the casing 111 is supported by a support at the center of the lower surface of the casing 111 and radial legs provided at the lower end of the support, or a structure in which the casing 111 and legs of the seating portion 11 12 may be integrated into a box-like structure. In the fall prevention device 1 of this embodiment, the seating surface 151 when the user is in the seated state is arranged at a position lower than the waist of the user when the user is in the standing state. That is, the user sits on the seating surface 151 of the fall prevention device 1 by sitting down from a standing state, and shifts from the sitting state to the standing state by raising the user's hips from the seating surface 151. The height of the seating surface 151 is, for example, located at a height near the knees, specifically within 200 mm above and below the average knee height, preferably within 100 mm above and below the average knee height. The length of the legs 12 may be adjustable so that the height of the seating surface 151 can be changed according to the user's convenience.

The sensor 16 detects the user's movements and conditions. The sensor 16 includes, for example, a first sensor 161 that detects the user's load on the standing surface 20, and a second sensor 162 that detects the user's load on the seating portion 11. The first sensor 161 is disposed on the stand-up target surface 20 at a location where a seated user places his/her feet when attempting to stand up (at the time of standing up). That is, the first sensor 161 is located between the feet of the user who is about to stand up and the floor or the ground, and measures the load on the stand-up target surface 20 by the user. Further, the first sensor 161 can measure the load depending on the position on the standing surface 20, for example, the load due to the left foot and the load due to the right foot of the user. The installation position of the first sensor 161 is not limited to the surface to be raised 20, but may be any position where the load on the surface to be raised 20 can be measured. It may also be placed on shoes, etc. Further, the first sensor 161 may be attached to a stand having a surface on which the user's feet are placed at a portion away from the standing surface 20 or a footrest attached to the leg portion 12 . The surface of the platform or footrest in this case can be wide enough to allow the user to stand on that surface.

The second sensor 162 is arranged within the housing 111 of the seating section 11 and measures the load on the seating surface 151 by the user. Further, the second sensor 162 can measure the load depending on the position on the seating surface 151, and can measure the load for each left and right area on the seating surface 151, for example. Therefore, the second sensor 162 may be placed inside the upper plate member 152, which will be described later. The sensor 16 is not limited to a load sensor, but may be an acceleration sensor attached to the user's upper body, a gyro sensor, or the like, and may include an upper body sensor that detects at least one of the user's posture and movement. . Further, the sensor 16 may be a photographing device that photographs the user sitting on the fall prevention device 1. A photographic image of the user's movements taken by this photographing device may be input to the control unit 17, and the control unit 17 may perform image processing to extract the user's posture bias and movements.

The motion assisting section 15 is a unit that is disposed in the seating section 11 and assists the user in standing up when moving from a state seated on the seating section 11 to a standing state. The motion assisting section 15 is divided into left and right parts, and includes a left unit 15L disposed on the left side and a right unit 15R disposed on the right side, each of which can operate independently. The left side unit 15L and right side unit 15R of the movement assisting section 15 each include an upper plate member 152 and an actuator 153.

The upper plate member 152 is a plate-shaped member whose upper surface serves as the seating surface 151, and is driven up and down by the actuator 153. The upper plate member 152 is located at the lower end in the state before the fall prevention device 1 assists the user's standing up movement (hereinafter also referred to as the initial state), and when the fall prevention device 1 assists the standing up movement (in operation), the actuator 153 The user's buttocks are pushed up by being driven upward by the user. For this reason, the upper plate member 152 has the rigidity to support the user, but at least the upper portion forming the seating surface 151 may have cushioning properties. Further, the seating surface 151 of the upper plate member 152 may be configured to have irregularities that fit the user's buttocks, and to suppress the user's buttocks from shifting when assisting the user in standing up.

The actuator 153 has one end fixed to the housing 111 and the other end connected to the upper plate member 152, and expands and contracts by reciprocating or rotational movement of an electric drive source, thereby moving the upper plate member 152 relative to the housing 111. This is a mechanism that drives the seating surface 151 up and down to raise or lower the seating surface 151. As described later, the actuator 153 provided on the left side unit 15L and the actuator 153 provided on the right side unit 15R are independently controlled by the control unit 17, so that the left and right areas of the seating surface 151 are independently controlled. and drive it. Further, in the actuator 153 of this embodiment, four actuators 1531 to 1534 are provided at the four corners of the upper plate member 152, and the angle of the upper plate member 152 can be changed by changing the drive amount of each actuator 1531 to 1534. . FIG. 4 is a front view showing an example of how the actuator 153 is driven, and FIG. 5 is a side view showing an example of how the actuator 153 is driven. In the initial state, each of the actuators 1531 to 1534 is in a contracted state, and the upper plate members 152 of the right side unit 15R and the left side unit 15L are each held substantially horizontally, as indicated by two-dot chain lines in FIGS. 4 and 5. When the

right actuators

1533 and 1534 are driven to extend relative to the

left actuators

1531 and 1532, the upper plate member 152 is driven so that the right side becomes higher as shown in FIG. Conversely, when the

left actuators

1531 and 1532 are driven to extend relative to the

right actuators

1533 and 1534, the upper plate member 152 is driven so that the left side becomes higher. Further, when the

rear actuators

1532 and 1534 are driven to extend relative to the

front actuators

1531 and 1533, the upper plate member 152 is driven so that the rear side becomes higher. On the contrary, when the

front actuators

1531, 1533 are driven to extend relative to the

rear actuators

1532, 1534, the upper plate member 152 is driven so that the front side becomes higher. In this way, the actuator 153 can adjust the inclination of the upper plate member 152 relative to the specified state. In particular, in this embodiment, each of the actuators 1531 to 1534 drives the upper plate member 152 with different amounts of drive, thereby operating the front, rear, left, and right regions of the seating surface 151 in contact with the user of the seating portion 11 with different amounts of movement. can be done. Note that the present invention is not limited to this, and the movement assisting section 15 may be configured to move only the front and rear or left and right regions of the seating surface 151 with different movement amounts. Furthermore, the actuator 153 may be contracted so that the upper plate member 152 is depressed from its initial state.

The control unit 17 acquires the detection result by the sensor 16, and controls the operation assisting unit 15 when the detection result satisfies a predetermined condition. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of the control section 17. The control unit 17 includes a processor 171, a storage unit 172, and an input/output unit 173. The processor 171 executes various calculation processes in the control unit 17 in an integrated manner. The processor 171 is an arithmetic processing means such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), or an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array).

The storage unit 172 includes, for example, a main storage unit 1721 and an auxiliary storage unit 1722. The main storage unit 1721 includes volatile memory such as RAM (Random Access Memory) and non-volatile memory such as ROM (Read Only Memory), and caches information such as programs and data used for arithmetic processing by the processor 171, for example. . Note that the main storage section 1721 may be formed integrally with the processor 171.

The auxiliary storage unit 1722 is composed of a storage medium such as RAM, ROM, EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), hard disk drive (HDD), or removable media. Note that the removable medium is an externally attachable and computer-readable recording medium, such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory or a memory card.

The auxiliary storage unit 1722 can store an operating system (OS), various programs, various tables, various databases, user data, etc. for executing the operations of the fall prevention device 1.

The input/output unit 173 is, for example, an interface that inputs information (detection results, etc.) from the sensor 16 and outputs information (control signals, etc.) to the sensor 16 and other devices. Furthermore, the input/output unit 173 may be a communication module that inputs (receives) information from other devices and outputs (transmits) information to other devices via a communication line. Furthermore, the input/output unit 173 may be a user interface such as an operation button or a touch panel, through which the user inputs operation information, and outputs (display, sound output, vibration, etc.) to the user through a display, speaker, vibrator, etc. . This output means such as a display, a speaker, a vibrator, etc. also functions as the alarm section 174 when outputting an alarm to the user.

In the fall prevention device 1 of this embodiment, the processor 171 of the control unit 17 executes the application program, so that the balance determination unit 1701, the operation control unit 1702, the alarm control unit 1703, etc. Functions as each processing section. That is, the control section 17 can be used as each processing section depending on the software to be executed. However, some or all of the above processing units may be dedicated LSI (large scale integration) such as DSP (Digital Signal Processor), ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), logic circuit, etc. It may be formed of hardware such as a digital circuit. Further, at least a portion of each of the processing units may include an analog circuit. The control unit 17 may have a configuration in which one processor functions as a plurality of processing units, or a configuration in which a plurality of processors function as one processing unit.

The balance determining unit 1701 determines the user's posture based on the signal from the sensor 16, measures the deviation of the posture from a prescribed state, and determines the user's balance state. Furthermore, when the user transitions to a standing state, the balance determining unit 1701 determines whether the user's balance state is out of a predetermined range based on the signal from the sensor 16.

The motion control section 1702 controls the motion assisting section based on the balance state determined by the balance determining section, and operates the motion assisting section so that the posture of the user approaches a prescribed state.

The alarm control unit 1703 causes the alarm unit 174, such as a display, speaker, or vibrator, to output an alarm when it is determined that the balance state of the user is out of a predetermined range.

≪Operation≫
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a method for preventing the fall prevention device 1 from falling, which is executed by the control unit 17. The fall prevention device 1 repeatedly executes the process shown in FIG. 7 while the power is on or when receiving an activation instruction.

In step S10, the control unit 17 determines whether to start assisting the standing motion based on the information acquired via the input/output unit 173. For example, when the user operates the operation unit to select the start of assistance and a signal indicating the start of assistance is input via the input/output unit 173, the control unit 17 makes an affirmative determination. Further, when the user tries to stand up and shifts the center of gravity to the front, and the ratio of the load detected by the first sensor 161 to the load detected by the second sensor 162 exceeds a predetermined value, the control unit 17 makes an affirmative determination. You may. If these inputs are not present, the control unit 17 makes a negative determination and ends the process of FIG.

In step S20, the control unit 30 determines the posture of the user based on the signals (detection results) from the first sensor 161 and the second sensor 162, measures the bias of the posture with respect to a prescribed state, and uses the Find the balance state of the person. For example, if the user's center of gravity is biased to the left, the load detected by the left sensor 16 will be large; if the user's center of gravity is biased to the right, the load detected by the right sensor 16 will be large. , the user's left-right bias is determined based on the left-right detection results by the sensor 16. Furthermore, if the user's center of gravity is biased toward the front, the load detected by the first sensor 161 will be large, and if the user's center of gravity is biased toward the rear, the load detected by the second sensor 162 will be large. Therefore, the bias between the front and rear users is determined based on the ratio of detection results by the first sensor 161 and the second sensor 162. Furthermore, if a motion sensor is attached to the upper body of the user, the balance state of the user is determined based on the detection results of this motion sensor. Further, when a photographing device that photographs the movement of the user is used as the sensor 16, the photographed image photographed by this photographing device is image-processed to determine the balance state of the user.

In step S30, the control unit 17 determines whether the balance state of the user is out of a predetermined range based on the signal from the sensor 16. For example, the control unit 17 determines the balanced state based on the ratio of the left and right loads detected by the sensor 16, and if the deviation of this load is within a predetermined range, the balance is not disrupted, so a negative determination is made. On the other hand, if the bias of the load is outside the predetermined range, the control unit 17 makes an affirmative determination because the balance is lost. If the determination in step S30 is affirmative, the control section 17 moves to step S40 and causes the alarm section 174 to output an alarm for a certain period of time. Here, the warning means to output a message from a speaker or display indicating that the center of gravity is too biased, such as "The center of gravity is too biased to the left. Please move the center of gravity closer to the center." The warning is not limited to this, and may be the output of vibration by a vibrator, the lighting of a warning light, or the like.

Furthermore, the control unit 17 determines the amount of drive of the motion assisting unit 15 based on the balance state obtained in step S20. Here, the amount of drive of the motion assisting section 15 is such that when the motion assisting section 15 assists the user's standing up motion, the amount of drive in the front, back, left, and right directions is adjusted to bring the user's posture closer to a prescribed state. It is. For example, if the user's posture is tilted to the left, the user's posture can be brought closer to a prescribed state by driving the seating surface so that the left side is higher and the right side is lower. Further, the seating surface 151 is substantially horizontal in the initial state, and is driven to gradually tilt forward at a predetermined angle as it rises from the initial state. At this time, if the balance state of the user is tilted forward, the seating surface 151 is driven to tilt backward beyond a predetermined angle; 151 is driven to lean forward beyond a predetermined angle, and the posture of the user is brought closer to a prescribed state. The drive amount is determined based on, for example, how much the motion assisting section 15 should be driven for each balance state of the user at multiple timings from the start to the end of the assistance to bring the user's posture into a prescribed state. is determined by a test or the like and stored in the storage unit 172 as a data table, and a value corresponding to the balance state determined in step S20 is extracted from the data table. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the motion assisting section 15 may use a predetermined function or the like to obtain the drive amount of the motion assisting section 15 from the balanced state obtained in step S20.

In step S50, the control unit 17 drives the movement assisting unit 15 according to the drive amount determined in step S40. That is, the control unit 17 causes the posture of the user sitting on the seating surface 151 to approach a prescribed state by raising or recessing the front, rear, left, and right regions of the seating surface 151. Thereafter, the control unit 17 returns to step S20 to detect the balance state, and determines in step S30 whether the balance state is out of a predetermined range.

If the determination in step S30 is negative, the control unit 17 moves to step S60 and drives the movement assisting unit 15 to raise the seating surface 151 and assist the user's standing up movement.

In step S70, the control unit 17 determines whether or not assistance with standing up is completed. For example, the control unit 17 makes an affirmative determination when the seating surface 151 is raised to a predetermined height and the user's load on the second sensor 162 disappears, and otherwise makes a negative determination. If the determination in step S70 is negative, the control unit 17 returns to step S20, and if the determination is affirmative, the control unit 17 proceeds to step S80.

In step S80, the control unit 17 resets the motion assisting unit 15 to return the seating surface 151 to its initial state, and ends the process of FIG. 7.

In this way, when the user stands up, the fall prevention device 1 of this embodiment not only pushes up the seating surface 151 to assist the user in standing up, but also adjusts the drive amount of each actuator 1531 to 1534 according to the balance state of the user. By adjusting the front, rear, left, and right regions of the seating surface 151 with different amounts of motion, the amount of assistance given to the user is adjusted, and the user's posture approaches a prescribed state. This corrects the imbalance in the user's posture and allows the user to stand up with good balance, thereby making it possible to prevent falls during standing-up assistance.

<Second embodiment>
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the configuration of a fall prevention device 1A according to the second embodiment. The fall prevention device 1A of this embodiment differs from the previous embodiments in that it uses an actuator 154 that operates by supplying and discharging fluid, instead of the electric actuator 153. Note that since the other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment described above, the same elements are given the same reference numerals and their explanations will be omitted.

In the motion assisting section 15 of this embodiment, the left side unit 15L and right side unit 15R each include an upper plate member 152 and an actuator 154. The actuator 154 includes an airbag 1540 that is a bag-shaped container that expands or contracts by supplying and discharging fluid, and an intake/exhaust section 1545 that supplies air to the airbag 1540 and exhausts air from the airbag 1540. There is. Note that the actuator 154 may be configured to include a bag-shaped container that expands or contracts by supplying and discharging liquid, and a device that supplies liquid to the container or discharges liquid from the container.

In the actuator 154 of this embodiment, four airbags 1541 to 1544 are provided at the four corners of the upper plate member 152, and an intake/exhaust part 1545 changes the amount of air in each airbag 1541 to 1544. You can change the angle of 9 is a front view showing an example of how the actuator 154 is driven, and FIG. 10 is a side view showing an example of how the actuator 154 is driven. In the initial state, each of the airbags 1541 to 1544 is in a contracted state, and the upper plate members 152 of the right side unit 15R and the left side unit 15L are held approximately horizontally, as indicated by the two-dot chain lines in FIGS. 9 and 10. . Then, when the

right airbags

1543 and 1544 are driven to inflate relative to the

left airbags

1541 and 1542, the upper plate member 152 is driven so that the right side becomes higher as shown in FIG. Conversely, when the

left airbags

1541 and 1542 are driven to inflate relative to the

right airbags

1543 and 1544, the upper plate member 152 is driven so that the left side becomes higher. Furthermore, when the

rear airbags

1542 and 1544 are driven to inflate relative to the

front airbags

1541 and 1543, the upper plate member 152 is driven so that the rear side becomes higher as shown in FIG. . On the contrary, when the

front airbags

1541, 1543 are driven to inflate relative to the

rear airbags

1542, 1544, the upper plate member 152 is driven so that the front side becomes higher. In this way, the actuator 154 can adjust the inclination of the upper plate member 152 relative to the specified state.

As described above, in this embodiment, each of the airbags 1541 to 1544 drives the upper plate member 152 with different driving amounts, so that the front, rear, left, and right regions of the seating surface 151 that contact the user of the seating portion 11 are operated differently. Can be operated in quantity. Thereby, as in the above-described embodiment, when assisting the user's standing up motion, it is possible to correct the bias in the user's posture and prevent the user from falling during the standing up motion.

Although the embodiments of the fall prevention device according to the present disclosure have been described above, each aspect disclosed in this specification can be combined with any other feature disclosed in this specification. Further, the movement assisting section 15 may also be composed of a front unit and a rear unit instead of the left side unit 15L and right side unit 15R, and each of them may be driven independently.

1: Fall prevention device 1A: Fall prevention device 11: Seat section 12: Leg section 13: Backrest 15: Movement auxiliary section 15L: Left side unit 15R: Right side unit 16: Sensor 17: Control section 20: Standing target surface 30: Control section 111: Housing 151: Seating surface 152: Upper plate member 153: Actuator 154: Actuator 161: First sensor 162: Second sensor 171: Processor 172: Storage section 173: Input/output section 174: Alarm section 1531 to 1534: Actuator 1540 to 1544: Airbag 1545: Intake/exhaust section 1701: Balance determination section 1702: Operation control section 1703: Alarm control section 1721: Main storage section 1722: Auxiliary storage section

Claims

A seating section where a user sits;
a movement assisting part that is disposed on the seating section and assists the user in standing up when transitioning from a state seated on the seating section to a standing state;
a sensor that detects the user's movements and conditions;
a balance determination unit that determines the posture of the user based on a signal from the sensor, measures the deviation of the posture with respect to a prescribed state, and determines it as a balanced state;
an operation control unit that controls the movement assisting unit based on the balance state determined by the balance determining unit, and operates the movement assisting unit so that the posture of the user approaches a prescribed state;
Fall prevention device equipped with.
The motion assisting section includes an actuator that independently drives a plurality of regions arranged front and rear, left and right, or front and rear and left and right on a seating surface of the seating section that is in contact with the user, and the actuator is connected to the motion control section. By controlling each area of the seating surface to operate with a different amount of movement, the movement assisting section adjusts the amount of assistance given to the user so that the posture of the user approaches a predetermined state. The fall prevention device according to claim 1, which assists.
The sensor measures the load due to the left foot and the load due to the right foot on the floor or ground where the user places his feet when standing up,
The fall prevention device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the balance determining section determines the balance state based on a ratio of a load caused by the left leg to a load caused by the right leg.
The sensor is
In addition to a first sensor that measures the load on the floor surface or the ground,
The fall prevention device according to claim 3, further comprising a second sensor that measures a load on the seating surface of the seating portion.
The sensor is
In addition to a first sensor that measures the load on the floor surface or the ground,
The fall prevention device according to claim 3, further comprising an upper body sensor that is attached to the upper body of the user and detects at least one of the posture and movement of the upper body.
The sensor is
In addition to a first sensor that measures the load on the floor surface or the ground,
The fall prevention device according to claim 4, further comprising an upper body sensor that is attached to the upper body of the user and detects at least one of the posture and movement of the upper body.
The fall prevention device according to claim 2, wherein the actuator is provided within the seating portion and causes the seating surface to be raised or depressed in each region.
The actuator is
A mechanism in which a bag-shaped container that expands or contracts by supplying and discharging fluid raises the seating surface by expanding and causes the seating surface to cave in by contracting, or
The fall prevention device according to claim 2, further comprising a mechanism for raising or lowering the seating surface by reciprocating or rotating a drive source.
It further includes an alarm unit that outputs an alarm,
When the user transitions to a standing state, the balance determining unit determines whether the balance state of the user is out of a predetermined range based on a signal from the sensor;
The alarm unit outputs an alarm when it is determined that the balance state of the user is out of a predetermined range.
The fall prevention device according to claim 1 or 2.