A novel assist device for Tension Pole based movable handrail

With the increase in aging population of many developed countries, the demand of walking or standing assist device has grown. This paper presents structure and control system of novel assist device, Intelligent Tension Pole (ITP), to assist walking and standing in room considered supporting for self-reliance, space saving, and stability. Two-wheel and one-wheel are added to lower and upper ends of tension pole collectively, and ball screw is added to move while stretching to floor and ceiling under various conditions. Experiments are done to verify the effectiveness of the proposed structure and control system.