wearable mobility device (WeMo)

Conceptual image of WeMo. (a) Standing posture. (b) Transformation adapting to user's natural posture change. (c) Sitting posture.

To realize a new type of personal mobility device with more flexibility, we proposed a novel concept of a personal mobility device design (Chen et al., 2023) that combines the agile mobility of a wheel type mechanism but does not limit a human’s natural stair climbing ability. In this work, we introduced a compact personal mobility device, namely WeMo, under the concept of “wearing mobility”, which extends humans’ mobility in daily life. The developed hardware realizes “walking mode” and “driving mode”. Users can move with the motorized driven wheels of the device during driving mode, and users can walk on their feet without any interference from the device during walking mode.

Keywords: wearable mobility device, natural posture change
Skills: Human machine modelling, mechatronics, control algorithm, user-centered design, field test

Reference

WeMo: A Prototype of a Wearable Mobility Device Adapting to User’s Natural Posture Changes

Yang Chen, Takashi Kuwahara, Yuki Nishimura, and 1 more author

Sensors 2023

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@article{wemo,
  author = {Chen, Yang and Kuwahara, Takashi and Nishimura, Yuki and Suzuki, Kenji},
  journal = {Sensors},
  title = {WeMo: A Prototype of a Wearable Mobility Device Adapting to User’s Natural Posture Changes},
  year = {2023},
  volume = {},
  number = {18},
  pages = {},
  doi = {10.3390/s23187683},
}