Control of robot assisting walk and sit-to-stand motion

Assistive robotics is a field of robotics that differs from conventional approaches because it must manage the specificities of human movement, which is fragile and whose pathological movement is unique. Unlike robots designed for generic situations, working to assist a person with movement difficulties requires partially integrating the expression of that difficulty. Since the 1990s, robotics researchers have been considering robotic assistance for people with movement impairments who require physical assistance.

Assistance is a major challenge, as it involves integrating a specific situation for support in everyday activities that are critical to people's independence. Whether it is a pathological movement or age-related muscle weakness, movement evolves and becomes unique to each person. This means that the proposed robot control solutions must be able to adapt to the specific nature of the movement. One consequence of this uniqueness is that "traditional" statistical methods, based on statistical generalization of observations, are challenged. Methods have therefore evolved towards approaches capable of adapting to capture the specificities of the pathology.

This article aims to present the various devices available to assist with walking and standing up.