Developing the WeWALK Smart Cane's Novel Mobility Tracking System for the Monitoring and Diagnostics of Age-Related Mobility Problems

开发 WeWALK 智能手杖的新型行动跟踪系统，用于监测和诊断与年龄相关的行动问题

• 批准号: 10032435
• 金额: $ 27.33万
• 依托单位: WEWALK LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Investment Accelerator
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10032435
• 关键词: Developing; WeWALK; Smart; Cane; Novel

There are 12 million elderly people in the UK, many of whom are likely to experience reduced mobility resulting from physical, cognitive, or sensory impairment. Some may even experience several conditions at the same time. To combat this, In 2019/20, the total expenditure on adult social care by local authorities was £23.3 billion. Over half of this was spent on people over 65 years old, the majority of this going to those who need physical support.However, the extent to which each individual is supported in everyday mobility remains unknown and older people continue to experience orientation, mobility, and accessibility challenges.Building on 10+ years of developing various assistive technology for visually impaired people, WeWALK (SME) have invented a sensor-rich smart cane and smartphone application to help people navigate outdoors. The app has both voice and written instructions, as well as full screen reader compatibility and low vision colour filters and text sizes. It calculates the optimal route for a journey and, when public transport is to be used, it finds out the best options, checks timetables, leads to the nearest station, and ensures taking the right transport vehicle. WeWALK can also automatically describe nearby landmarks on a journey. Moreover, the entire WeWALK app can be controlled through the companion WeWALK smart cane, which also provides obstacle detection through ultrasonic sensing and haptics.The WeWALK system is now capable of collecting motion data from WeWALK's sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, compass) and connected smartphone including walking speed, cane swipes, and places visited, but requires further development to actively track and diagnose mobility patterns through analysis of this data.This is necessary as there are no accurate models for how an older person moves and how their mobility holistically evolves, especially after receiving social care, rehabilitation, or orientation and mobility training. Therefore, healthcare, government, and mobility specialists cannot effectively determine if intervention has had benefit. WeWALK's novel system aims to be implemented and expanded organically through daily usage. However, there will first need to exist rigorous data collection and user testing, followed by data manipulation and classification.Through a human-centred design approach to exhaustively review the indicators of mobility problems in older people and beyond, WeWALK will develop and refine its smartphone and smartcane's ability to recognise these through daily usage. This will ultimately allow older people, or anyone experiencing mobility challenges, to better understand their progression, assisting healthcare and the end-user alike.

英国有1200万老年人，其中许多人可能因身体、认知或感觉障碍而行动不便。有些人甚至可能同时经历几种情况。为了解决这一问题，2019/20年度，地方当局用于成人社会护理的总支出为233亿英镑。超过一半的钱花在了65岁以上的人身上，其中大部分花在了那些需要身体支持的人身上。然而，每个人在日常行动中得到的支持程度仍然未知，老年人继续经历定向、行动和无障碍方面的挑战。在为视障人士开发各种辅助技术的10多年基础上，WeWALK （SME）发明了一种传感器丰富的智能手杖和智能手机应用程序，以帮助人们在户外导航。这款应用程序有语音和文字指令，兼容全屏阅读器，支持低视力的彩色滤镜和文字大小。它会计算旅行的最佳路线，当要使用公共交通工具时，它会找出最佳选择，检查时刻表，引导到最近的车站，并确保选择合适的交通工具。WeWALK还可以自动描述旅途中附近的地标。此外，整个WeWALK应用程序可以通过配套的WeWALK智能手杖进行控制，该手杖还通过超声波传感和触觉提供障碍物检测。WeWALK系统现在能够从WeWALK的传感器（加速度计、陀螺仪、指南针）和连接的智能手机收集运动数据，包括步行速度、手杖滑动和访问过的地方，但需要进一步开发，通过分析这些数据来主动跟踪和诊断移动模式。这是必要的，因为没有准确的模型来描述老年人的活动方式以及他们的活动能力是如何整体发展的，特别是在接受社会护理、康复或定向和活动训练之后。因此，医疗保健、政府和流动性专家不能有效地确定干预是否有益。WeWALK的新系统旨在通过日常使用有机地实施和扩展。然而，首先需要有严格的数据收集和用户测试，然后是数据操作和分类。通过以人为本的设计方法，WeWALK将全面审查老年人及老年人的行动问题指标，并开发和完善其智能手机和智能手杖在日常使用中识别这些问题的能力。这最终将使老年人或任何遇到行动不便的人更好地了解他们的进展，从而帮助医疗保健和最终用户。