Mobility-Aid Smart Pants with Embedded Harness for Daily Use

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.