Design and Preliminary Assessment of a Haptic Feedback System For a Smart Walker

Abstract

This work presents the design and preliminary evaluation of a pair of haptic walker handles. The haptic handles offer both vibrotactile and skin-stretch-and-slip haptic cues. Two older adults, aged 66 and 76, participated in a pilot study to evaluate the perceptibility of the haptic cues, both while standing still and while walking. Measures of the participants’ ability to feel the haptic cues indicate that skin-stretch-and-slip cues are superior to vibrotactile cues for a smart walker to be used by older adults.