Field tests on a personal mobility aid for the elderly

The number of elderly Americans is currently rising and will continue to do so. These elderly individuals face several problems in the later years of their lives including the move into an eldercare facility. Personal mobility and monitoring aids are being developed to assist the elderly with this transition. One of these devices is the Personal Aid for Mobility and Monitoring (PAMM). PAMM is in the beginning stages of its development in the MIT Mechanical Engineering Field and Space Robotics Laboratory with an initial prototype recently constructed. This prototype was tested with many residents at an eldercare facility. Several conclusions about the control, ergonomics and overall user acceptance of the device were made. The PAMM prototype was changed accordingly and recommendations for future work are provided.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

1999

Author dc:creator

• Godding, Sara J. (Sara Jean), 1977-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Steven Dubowsky.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/17478

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/17478