A standing-function evaluation method based on virtual light touch contact

This paper proposes a novel standing-function evaluation method based on virtual light touch contact. In this approach, a virtual partition is first created from measurements of the subject´s trunk and finger positions. Random on/off control of virtual forces from the partition enables evaluation of standing function based on the presence or absence of somatic sensory stimulation to the fingers. Evaluation and comparison experiments were conducted with eight young subjects and six elderly subjects. The index values computed from the elderly subjects were standardized based on those of the young subjects. Among the results, values for indices such as the average vector of the center of pressure with elderly subjects were found to be larger than those with young subjects. All index values exhibited significant differences between the subject groups at the 1 or 5% level. The results suggest the validity of quantitative standing-function evaluation based on VLTC.