Mobility-Aid Smart Pants with Embedded Harness for Daily Use
Name
chen-kchen52-sb-meche-2022-thesis.pdf
Description
Thesis PDF
Size
10.47 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
efdb1049f8032997ff2ec5af5304ccab
Author(s)
Chen, Karen
Advisor(s)
Asada, H. Harry
Date Issued
May 2022
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Mobility aids help individuals that experience problems with moving around maintain autonomy, and can take many forms such as canes, crutches, walkers, among others. These devices are commonly used among the elderly, as decreased mobility is a natural effect of aging. In fact, mobility aids and gait training, often facilitated through the use of bulky gait trainers, harnesses, and or railings, have great potential to improve patient’s cardiovascular health, blood circulation, and disease prevention. However, gait training is often inaccessible due to the heavy equipment required, impractical to purchase for individual use; giving patients more optionality in their mobility aids through everyday wearables could improve the overall health of the mobility-aid user population. In particular, smart garments can adapt to the user and the user’s environment. These harness-embedded pants come into play as the pants are physically connected to the walker, so the harness effectively prevents the user from sustaining a potentially life threatening injury, while discreetly disguised as a regular pair of pants.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
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