Department of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering (DEI), Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Viale Risorgimento 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy.
Department of Industrial Engineering (DIN), Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Via Umberto Terracini 24-28, 40131 Bologna, Italy.
Sensors (Basel). 2023 Apr 21;23(8):4151. doi: 10.3390/s23084151.
This paper reports the architecture of a low-cost smart crutches system for mobile health applications. The prototype is based on a set of sensorized crutches connected to a custom Android application. Crutches were instrumented with a 6-axis inertial measurement unit, a uniaxial load cell, WiFi connectivity, and a microcontroller for data collection and processing. Crutch orientation and applied force were calibrated with a motion capture system and a force platform. Data are processed and visualized in real-time on the Android smartphone and are stored on the local memory for further offline analysis. The prototype's architecture is reported along with the post-calibration accuracy for estimating crutch orientation (5° RMSE in dynamic conditions) and applied force (10 N RMSE). The system is a mobile-health platform enabling the design and development of real-time biofeedback applications and continuity of care scenarios, such as telemonitoring and telerehabilitation.
本文介绍了一种用于移动健康应用的低成本智能拐杖系统的架构。该原型基于一组连接到定制的 Android 应用程序的带传感器的拐杖。拐杖配备了一个六轴惯性测量单元、一个单轴称重传感器、Wi-Fi 连接和一个用于数据收集和处理的微控制器。拐杖的方向和所施加的力使用运动捕捉系统和力平台进行校准。Android 智能手机实时处理和可视化数据，并存储在本地内存中以进行进一步的离线分析。本文报告了原型的架构以及估算拐杖方向（动态条件下为 5° RMSE）和所施加的力（10 N RMSE）的后校准精度。该系统是一个移动健康平台，能够设计和开发实时生物反馈应用程序和连续性护理场景，例如远程监控和远程康复。
