Design and Development of a Chair with a Novel Sit-to-Stand Assistive Mechanism for the Elderly

• Main Authors: WANG, WEI-SHIU, 王偉旭
• Other Authors: PEI, CHUN
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/wzr7j6

碩士 === 南開科技大學 === 福祉科技與服務管理所 === 106 === Human muscle strength and skeletal joint function decline with age, creating several daily living problems for elderly people. Among these problems, the sit-to-stand movement is the most problematic for elderly people and can therefore serve as a critical indicator of their quality of life. To help elderly people perform the sit-to-stand movement, chairs with a sit-to-stand assistive mechanism (assistive chairs) have been designed; however, numerous aspects can be improved in current commercially available assistive chairs. Thus, in this study, a chair with a power-free sit-to-stand assistive mechanism was developed. It also has the advantages of being easy to assemble, ship, and operate. In this study, literature review regarding age-related decline in the muscle strength and skeletal joint function of the elderly was analyzed, and studies that used sit-to-stand strategies or related products to improve their sit-to-stand performance were also analyzed. Considering the sit-to-stand strategies of elderly people, a novel assistive chair with a simple linkage mechanism that met the power-free condition was developed in this study; it is operated through force applied by the user on armrests or footrest while attempting to perform the sit-to-stand movement. A functional experiment was conducted, in which the acceleration of the centers of gravity of 5 older adults wearing inertial sensors was analyzed, and their sit-to-stand performance on the novel assistive chair and an I-brand normal armchair was compared. The results showed that compared with the I-brand armchair (control group), the assistive chair improved stability and required less force to perform the sit-to-stand movement. In this study, the prototype of a power-free assistive chair was developed, and a preliminary verification experiment was conducted. Detailed functions of the assistive chairs will be improved in the future before commercializing this novel product. Keywords: Assistive device for the elderly, Chair with sit-to-stand assistive mechanism, Inertial sensor