Robotic chair at steep and narrow stairways

摘要

A robotic chair is developed to support mobility of elderly and disabled people living in the house where steep and narrow stairways are installed. In order to deal with such mobility problem the developed robotic chair has a compact original configuration. The robotic chair vertically moves by actuation of electric cylinders and horizontally moves by push-pull operation given by a care-giver. In order to navigate safely every action of the chair is checked by the operator. Up-and-down motions of the robotic chair on the stairway are executed through combinations of motor and cylinder actuations. Performance of the robotic chair was evaluated through two kinds of experiments. The excellent ability of the robotic chair could be confirmed through these experiments.