Engineering Mechanics

Proceedings Vol. 27/28 (2022)

ENGINEERING MECHANICS 2022

Copyright © 2022 Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

 

Sant Z., Chase K., Busuttil A.
pages 341 - 344, full text

Many elderly people have a problem with getting up from the chair, therefore they use the arm support. Not everyone has a strong arm muscles to support its own weight, and not all chairs have a support for arm, then these people become dependent on the help. The market offers support developed for a generic person, and the mobile supports are very rare to find. This work aims to improve the support, which requires description of the biomechanics of motion, analysis of Sit-To-Stand movement, and obtaining the muscular activity data during the getting up. These data are necessary for design of the supporting mobile cushion, that will be suitable for almost any type of the furniture for sitting on. The major idea is based on the personalising the force that will support the start of the body movement, and prepare the body position for the next movement that will ease continuation of the movement, and safely supports the user in the movement. Created prototype was used to obtain the data during the getting up from the chair without and with support. Data were analyzed, and the additional force was calibrated to providing the personalised support for any users' weight.

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All papers were reviewed by members of the scientific committee.