An independent life support robot for the lower-limb handicapped and elderly: Task-intention-identification and assistive-motion-planning algorithms

To provide support for the lower-limb handicapped and elderly with lower-limb weakness, an Independent Life Support Robot (ILSR) has been under development in our laboratory. In this study, we first introduce the kinematics model of the ILSR. Second, we provide a brief introduction to Activities of Daily Life (ADLs) that require support for lower limb handicapped and elderly. Third, we propose an ILSR identification method for task intention in daily life and an assistive-motion-planning ILSR method to provide complementary mobility functions for the lower-limb handicapped and elderly. Finally, we discuss the effectiveness of our proposed method as demonstrated in experiments in which a series of cleaning tasks were performed.