An omni-directional mobile walking support robot

This paper introduces a new design of the omni-directional mobile robot, which realizes the omni-directional movement through a differential drive control mode. A six axis force sensor is used to identify the user´s walking intention, which controls the robot to accomplish the corresponding movement. Because of the slow walking speed of the elderly, the maximum speed of the robot is 1 m/s. In order to ensure the safety of the elderly, the emergency button is set up. In this paper, the design of the omni-directional mobile robot is based on common wheels: two front wheels are bolstering wheels; two rear wheels are double driving-wheel groups that consist of two active wheels. The experimental results show that the mobile robot can freely move left, right, forward, backward and obliquely according to the user´s intention. The omni-directional mobile robot can support the elders or the disabled patients during walking period.