Aided sit to stand transfer by assistive robot and wearable sensors

Sit to stand (STS) transfer is probably the most common task during the daily life. We have developed an assistive robot which can provide physical support to aid patients and the elderly with the physical impairment during both the walk and the STS transfer. In this paper, we will focus on the STS transfer function which is realized by autonomous control and posture control that means the robot tracks human intention and motion during the STS transfer. The assistive robot consists of almost the mobile platform mechanism, STS support mechanism and the interaction module. Several robot-assisted STS transfer experiments were carried out. By analyzing the signals of the sensors, the experimental results show that the STS transfer function of the assistive robot are determined by the linear actuator and the control algorithm for the STS transfer. The acceptable smoothness and compliance are achieved. Finally, future research work to improve the performances is addressed.