Bringing proxemics to walker-assisted gait: using admittance control with spatial modulation to navigate in confined spaces

Abstract

Smart walkers may be used to assist human navigation. However, social conventions and human behavior should be taken into consideration to allow their interaction with other people. This paper presents a navigation strategy for a smart walker with social conventions defined by proxemics, which uses an admittance controller to generate haptic and visual signals for a safe navigation within a corridor. This controller was validated in two experiments. The first one consisted of recreating, in a simulation environment, five typical situations that could occur in a corridor. The second experiment consisted of validating the controller in a real environment within the corridor. In this case, people generate uncontrolled situations in the corridor. This controller allowed a safe social navigation with a comfortable velocity of 0.244 m/s ± 0.1196.