Head orientation sensing by a wearable device for assisted locomotion

In this paper, we propose a novel wearable sensor device for the measurement of the head orientation and relative position against the body trunk in real-time. It is known that in natural walking, human locomotion is preceded by changes in head orientation [1, 2, 3] and the walking direction can therefore be predicted by observing the head orientation. We have been developing a wearable sensing device for the measurement of head orientation, which enables prediction of the future walking direction in real-time for the assistive technologies for locomotion - such as exoskeleton robots and wheelchair. Existing body posture measurement devices tend to be large and non-portable [4], therefore measurement in everyday space is still difficult. On the other hand, the developed system enables wireless and location independent measurement of the orientation of the head and it can be applied for assisted locomotion. In evaluation of the accuracy of the developed device, we observed the head anticipation during natural walking. Additionally, we compared the head anticipation in natural walking and electric wheelchair locomotion using the developed device and discuss a novel wheelchair control based on head orientation.