Method for selecting standing-up assist devices based on standing-up classification with human model

A person can employ various standing-up strategies depending on his/her physical ability and personal habit. Physically-handicapped persons have abilities as well to stand-up, with the help of caregivers or devices. There is not so much relationship between physical ability of a person and the standing-up strategy being employed, which leads to the fact that the devices or the care method might not be appropriately chosen. A method for choosing among standing-up strategies based on a newly defined ADL (Activity of Daily Living) index for standing-up function has therefore been proposed. Then, these strategies are derived from standing-up strategy classification focused on human joints' degree-of-freedom, and can be classified into 7 categories. In the cases where multiple strategies correspond to the same index, the differences are studied experimentally. In the cases where no existing device is known to the corresponding category, prototype model of the support devices are made experimental use. The result of the experiments shows that an appropriate standing-up strategy can be chosen in accordance with the ADL index. © 2011 The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers.