A Standing Support Mobility Robot for Enhancing Independence in Elderly Daily Living

TL;DR

This paper introduces 'Moby', a novel standing support robot designed to improve elderly independence by providing safe, upright mobility assistance with autonomous navigation and user-friendly control, outperforming traditional aids.

Contribution

The paper presents a new standing support robot 'Moby' that combines passive and active support, integrated with ROS and navigation systems, offering a safer, more natural, and versatile mobility aid for the elderly.

Findings

Moby effectively assists sit-to-stand transfers.

Experimental results show reduced physical strain and increased independence.

User feedback indicates high comfort and ease of use.

Abstract

This paper presents a standing support mobility robot "Moby" developed to enhance independence and safety for elderly individuals during daily activities such as toilet transfers. Unlike conventional seated mobility aids, the robot maintains users in an upright posture, reducing physical strain, supporting natural social interaction at eye level, and fostering a greater sense of self-efficacy. Moby offers a novel alternative by functioning both passively and with mobility support, enabling users to perform daily tasks more independently. Its main advantages include ease of use, lightweight design, comfort, versatility, and effective sit-to-stand assistance. The robot leverages the Robot Operating System (ROS) for seamless control, featuring manual and autonomous operation modes. A custom control system enables safe and intuitive interaction, while the integration with NAV2 and LiDAR allows for robust navigation capabilities. This paper reviews existing mobility solutions and compares them to Moby, details the robot's design, and presents objective and subjective experimental results using the NASA-TLX method and time comparisons to other methods to validate our design criteria and demonstrate the advantages of our contribution.