417 自走用車椅子使用者のための段差移動補助装置の開発(OS5-(5)オーガナイズドセッション《ライフサポートにおける工学技術》) 417 Development of a Pair of Step-Climbing Units for a Manual Wheelchair

In this paper, we propose a pair of step-climbing units that can be installed to a conventional manual wheelchair. The user is such a person who has no disabled upper limbs and is able to raise casters attached in front of the wheelchair by himself. The merits of this assisted unit are the simplicity of the mechanism and not spoiling the folding function of the wheelchair. Each step-climbing unit comprises two actuators and has two degrees of freedom: a prismatic joint and a rotational joint. We mainly discuss the motion of climbing step using this system. Experimental results confirm the design's effectiveness.