Study on a practical robotic follower to support home oxygen therapy patients-development and control of a mobile platform-

Abstract

Home oxygen therapy (HOT) is a medical treatment for patients suffering from severe lung diseases. Although walking outdoors is recommended for patients to maintain physical strength, patients always have to carry a portable oxygen supplier which is not sufficiently light weight for this purpose. Our ultimate goal is to develop a mobile robot to carry an oxygen tank and follow a patient in an urban outdoor environment. We have proposed a mobile robot with a tether interface to detect the relative position of the foregoing patient. In this paper, we improve mobile platform mechanisms and active wheels to maximize the step height which can be negotiated, and to allocate sufficient space in the main body to carry an actual oxygen tank. The following control algorithm is also improved and its effectiveness is demonstrated in an outdoor experiment.

Study on a practical robotic follower to support home oxygen therapy patients — Questionnaire-based concept evaluation by the patients-

“…We also verified that this prototype could follow a narrow winding trajectory by using modified follow-the-leader control [11].…”

“…Moving velocity and direction are controlled by differential angular velocity control of the active wheels. As for the following control, we have proposed three following methods: pseudo-joystick steering control, follow-the-leader control and modified follow-the-leader control [11]. This middle-sized robot uses pseudo-joystick steering control which is the most direct implementation of a following controller.…”

Facilitating Human-Mobile Robot Communication via Haptic Feedback and Gesture Teleoperation

“…Person-following is a common task for service and assistive robots. Researchers have developed person-following systems for different applications, including helping elderly people who suffer from cognitive impairment [15,32] and carrying oxygen therapy tanks for patients [41]. According to Ref.…”

Development of a practical robotic follower to support Home Oxygen Therapy patients - empirical evaluation in public space

“…This mechanism can also minimize the required maximum driving torque to negotiate a step. In order to maximize the luggage space of the robot, we designed a special low-profile in-wheel motor with a large diameter (for more details see [12]). The tether mechanism consists of a reel mechanism and a rotational joint around the vertical axis, installed on the base structure.…”

“…In our previous work, we developed a prototype model and its following control algorithm [12] [13]. The prototype was evaluated by H.O.T.…”