Modular and Multi-Legged Design Analysis for Stability Enhancement of Elderly Walkers

This study focuses on designing an improved mobility walker for elderly people, building upon the concept of a traditional four-legged walker but imagined offering better stability and efficiency. Two challenges have been faced by walker users: ensuring greater stability during movement and distributing stress evenly across the structure to enhance durability and user comfort. By rethinking the traditional design, this study aims to develop a walker that feels safer, more reliable, and better suited to the needs of its users. The significance of this work lies in its potential to improve the quality of life for people who rely on walkers for mobility, especially older patients. Stability and control are two key features in structural mechanics for safe delivery. This study begins with generating new concepts that focus on user needs and engineering principles. After developing a model, Finite Element simulations were run, to calculate stress and deformation in the structure of the walker based on the applied load. A use case was run on a coarser model of the 4-legged walker with Von Mises stresses reported as 15.98MPa whereas same model was replicated with 8-legs using coarser model with a Von Mises stress of 4.73MPa. Results revealed that adding more legs to the walker may add to the structure but will last long and can withstand higher loads ensuring individual’s safety.