An intent-based control approach for an intelligent mobility aid

A prototype of an intelligent mobility aid, ZJU Walker, is designed to help the elderly walk easily, safely and independently. This paper proposes a control approach based on walking intent to control the motion of ZJU Walker. Walking intent is described in a 3D intent space which consists of directional intent, pace intent and rotary intent. Extraction of walking intent from a user's operations on the handles is implemented by the nearest neighbor algorithm. An intent-based user-oriented dynamic model is employed to activate a smooth control and to meet a user's requirements in the different stages of motion. Experimental results are presented to show the validity of the proposed control approach.