HEIKA

Unraveling rollator-human interactions and effects on balance

Principal Investigator: Dr. Lizeth Sloot & Prof Thorsten Stein (KIT)

Funder: Heidelberg Karlsruhe Strategic Partnership (HEIKA; Germany)

Collaborating institutions: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT, Germany: Prof. T Stein, Dr. M Herzog)

Our study aims to:

A possible explanation is that the use of rollators demands attention – but little is known about the human-rollator interaction
Icon of a walker aid with two wheels, a handle, and a base, on a black background.
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Rollators made participants more stable during standing up and sitting down  
This study aims to understand how rollator interactions affect movement and balance
Rollators are relatively cheap tools prescribed to people with reduced balance and coordination, but they are related to a higher fall-risk

Our Methods

We measured 20 young adults in different handle assistance and balance difficulty conditions

Impact

Rollator-interaction changed the movement strategy and tightly controls the muscles of people in standing up from and sitting down on a chair 
This shows that rollator usage is underestimated, and safe interactions should be further studied. Walking with rollators is currently being evaluated.
A black and white line drawing of a person using a walker. 
We assessed handle load, foot forces, full body movement and leg and arm muscle activity
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A black and white icon of a person walking, with a circular outline at the feet, on a black background. 
A bespoke robot was built to simulate robotic rollator support with 2D-movable instrumented handles
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