The development of a smart chair to assist sit-to-stand transferring process

Abstract

Standing up from a seated position, known as sit-to-stand (STS) movement, is one of the activities of daily living (ADLs) on a daily basis. As people age, physiological changes occur including reduced muscle strength and mass as well as sensory capacity. This may lead to difficulties in STS transferring process, with which the elderly may encounter sedentary lifestyle and contracted social space. There exist market available assistive lift devices with performance far from satisfaction, for the reason being that they fail to provide appropriate assistance. Thus, an intent-based smart lift chair is proposed and partially developed aiming to analyse user's physiological condition through pattern recognition. The idea of assistance-as-needed is also introduced which may help encourage the elderly to improve their own motor function by offering personalised assistance with adaptation to the change of conditions.