Semi-Remote Gait Assistance Interface: A Joystick with Visual Feedback Capabilities for Therapists
The constant growth of pathologies affecting human mobility has led to developing of different assistive devices to provide physical and cognitive assistance. Smart walkers are a particular type of these devices since they integrate navigation systems, path-following algorithms, and user interaction...
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doaj-4ddff5433559446fb319af1133c62bf02021-06-01T00:26:04ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202021-05-01213521352110.3390/s21103521Semi-Remote Gait Assistance Interface: A Joystick with Visual Feedback Capabilities for TherapistsDaniel E. Garcia A.0Sergio D. Sierra M.1Daniel Gomez-Vargas2Mario F. Jiménez3Marcela Múnera4Carlos A. Cifuentes5Department of Biomedical Engineering, Colombian School of Engineering Julio Garavito, Bogota 111166, ColombiaDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Colombian School of Engineering Julio Garavito, Bogota 111166, ColombiaDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Colombian School of Engineering Julio Garavito, Bogota 111166, ColombiaSchool of Engineering, Science and Technology, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá 111711, ColombiaDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Colombian School of Engineering Julio Garavito, Bogota 111166, ColombiaDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Colombian School of Engineering Julio Garavito, Bogota 111166, ColombiaThe constant growth of pathologies affecting human mobility has led to developing of different assistive devices to provide physical and cognitive assistance. Smart walkers are a particular type of these devices since they integrate navigation systems, path-following algorithms, and user interaction modules to ensure natural and intuitive interaction. Although these functionalities are often implemented in rehabilitation scenarios, there is a need to actively involve the healthcare professionals in the interaction loop while guaranteeing safety for them and patients. This work presents the validation of two visual feedback strategies for the teleoperation of a simulated robotic walker during an assisted navigation task. For this purpose, a group of 14 clinicians from the rehabilitation area formed the validation group. A simple path-following task was proposed, and the feedback strategies were assessed through the kinematic estimation error (KTE) and a usability survey. A KTE of 0.28 m was obtained for the feedback strategy on the joystick. Additionally, significant differences were found through a Mann–Whitney–Wilcoxon test for the perception of behavior and confidence towards the joystick according to the modes of interaction (<i>p</i>-values of 0.04 and 0.01, respectively). The use of visual feedback with this tool contributes to research areas such as remote management of therapies and monitoring rehabilitation of people’s mobility.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/10/3521human mobilityrehabilitationsmart walkersjoystickvisual feedbackteleoperation |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Daniel E. Garcia A. Sergio D. Sierra M. Daniel Gomez-Vargas Mario F. Jiménez Marcela Múnera Carlos A. Cifuentes |
spellingShingle |
Daniel E. Garcia A. Sergio D. Sierra M. Daniel Gomez-Vargas Mario F. Jiménez Marcela Múnera Carlos A. Cifuentes Semi-Remote Gait Assistance Interface: A Joystick with Visual Feedback Capabilities for Therapists Sensors human mobility rehabilitation smart walkers joystick visual feedback teleoperation |
author_facet |
Daniel E. Garcia A. Sergio D. Sierra M. Daniel Gomez-Vargas Mario F. Jiménez Marcela Múnera Carlos A. Cifuentes |
author_sort |
Daniel E. Garcia A. |
title |
Semi-Remote Gait Assistance Interface: A Joystick with Visual Feedback Capabilities for Therapists |
title_short |
Semi-Remote Gait Assistance Interface: A Joystick with Visual Feedback Capabilities for Therapists |
title_full |
Semi-Remote Gait Assistance Interface: A Joystick with Visual Feedback Capabilities for Therapists |
title_fullStr |
Semi-Remote Gait Assistance Interface: A Joystick with Visual Feedback Capabilities for Therapists |
title_full_unstemmed |
Semi-Remote Gait Assistance Interface: A Joystick with Visual Feedback Capabilities for Therapists |
title_sort |
semi-remote gait assistance interface: a joystick with visual feedback capabilities for therapists |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Sensors |
issn |
1424-8220 |
publishDate |
2021-05-01 |
description |
The constant growth of pathologies affecting human mobility has led to developing of different assistive devices to provide physical and cognitive assistance. Smart walkers are a particular type of these devices since they integrate navigation systems, path-following algorithms, and user interaction modules to ensure natural and intuitive interaction. Although these functionalities are often implemented in rehabilitation scenarios, there is a need to actively involve the healthcare professionals in the interaction loop while guaranteeing safety for them and patients. This work presents the validation of two visual feedback strategies for the teleoperation of a simulated robotic walker during an assisted navigation task. For this purpose, a group of 14 clinicians from the rehabilitation area formed the validation group. A simple path-following task was proposed, and the feedback strategies were assessed through the kinematic estimation error (KTE) and a usability survey. A KTE of 0.28 m was obtained for the feedback strategy on the joystick. Additionally, significant differences were found through a Mann–Whitney–Wilcoxon test for the perception of behavior and confidence towards the joystick according to the modes of interaction (<i>p</i>-values of 0.04 and 0.01, respectively). The use of visual feedback with this tool contributes to research areas such as remote management of therapies and monitoring rehabilitation of people’s mobility. |
topic |
human mobility rehabilitation smart walkers joystick visual feedback teleoperation |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/10/3521 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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