With the growing elderly population in our world, technology to improve mobility and quality of life is vital. While there are devices, such as walkers and wheelchairs, on the market to assist people, a good deal of it is unaffordable and too complex. The IEEE Swinburne Sarawak Student Branch has teamed up with the Swinburne University of Technology to create an affordable and user-friendly Self-Navigating Robotic Walking Aid to offer aid to elderly users.
The walking aid strives to create a walker that is easy to control, expands the quality of life functionality, and has an emphasis on lower cost and affordability. To find the best way to craft this with elder preference, a survey was created and distributed to see what features would be best to include. One of the focal features is the ability for the walker to return to its user should it be misplaced. This is done using multi-sensor fusion. The sensors are meant to self-localize the walker and assist the user in the situation that it is misplaced.
The maintenance of this walker is expected to be easy, with only the wear and tear of a typical walker. The parts are easily replaceable should the need arise. The team will provide technical support for the users. The walker is expected to last about 3-5 years.
This project was given a grant of $1,900.00 as part of EPICS in IEEE’s Access and Abilities Competition.