The Development of the Simple Transfer Instrument for Reducing the Burden of Caregivers: The Basic Conception and Structure

While it is becoming an aging society, there are a large numbers of physical and mental burdens placed upon those who work in the field of nursing. Lots of nursing staff suffer from the occupational injuries especially on their waists. In daily nursing, assisting the elderly and patients with the transfer between the beds, the wheelchairs and the toilets is the primary cause of these occupational injuries. In order to improve the QOL (Quality of Life) of the elderly and reduce the burdens of caregivers, an unpowered, flexible manipulator system with multi-link mechanism is developed. The system is based on the characteristics of the movement of the transfer. In this paper, the basic conception and structure are introduced with the experimental results including operating force of caregivers and care recipients' experience.