Walking Trainer Display Synchronizing Visual Targets With Tread Speed
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing walking training devices for individuals with disorders, such as those post-stroke or with Parkinson's, fail to accurately simulate real walking conditions, neglecting head and eye movements and often restrict natural movement due to fixed step length settings, leading to suboptimal training and limited therapist observation.
Innovation Solution
A walking trainer device with a movable tread surface and display unit showing target foot positions as moving illuminated belts above the tread, synchronized with the belt speed, allowing for natural sensory input and spatial observation, and equipped with sensors to adjust belt width and speed for personalized training, enabling quick and comfortable learning of a regular walking pattern.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If a monitor is placed opposite the person to display step indications, then the person can see the target foot positions, but head movements and eye observations are restricted and do not contribute to the training process
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a camera to capture the person's head and eye movements, then projects this visual information onto the moving tread surface as target indications. This copying approach allows the system to translate natural head movements into meaningful spatial targets without restricting the person's natural walking motion, thereby preserving both sensory input and ease of operation
Solution Approach 2:
The camera and projection system act as intermediaries between the person's natural head movements and the training process. Instead of directly using head movements as control input, the system captures them visually and translates them into projected target patterns on the tread surface, mediating the connection between natural movement and training feedback
2Manufacturing precision
If a predetermined ideal step length is used to control belt speed, then the walking rhythm can be standardized, but the training does not optimally reflect the actual walking ability of the person with disorder
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the projected target indications based on the person's actual walking ability rather than using a fixed predetermined step length. The camera continuously monitors head and eye movements, and the projection system adapts the target patterns in real-time to match the person's current capabilities, enabling both consistency and individualization
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs feedback by using camera data from the person's head and eye movements to continuously adjust the projected target indications. This closed-loop approach allows the belt speed and target positions to be optimized based on the person's actual performance, combining standardization with adaptive adjustment to individual needs
3Stability of the object's composition
If the target indications are displayed on a monitor at a fixed distance, then the display is stable, but it does not simulate real walking conditions where targets are at varying distances
Solution Approach 1:
The projection system creates dynamic target indications that move across the tread surface at varying speeds and positions, simulating the changing distances encountered in real walking. Unlike a static monitor, the projected targets can appear closer or farther away depending on their position on the moving tread surface, providing both visual stability through continuous projection and ecological validity through distance variation
Solution Approach 2:
The system adds the dimension of spatial depth by projecting targets onto a moving three-dimensional tread surface rather than a flat two-dimensional monitor. This allows targets to be displayed at varying apparent distances as they move across the inclined or flat tread surface, simulating real walking conditions while maintaining display stability through the continuous projection mechanism
Data Source
AI summary
A walking-trainer device for persons with a walking disorder to relearn walking has a movable tread surface and a display unit for displaying target indications of the corresponding and consecutive foot positions for movements made by a person walking on the tread surface. The target indications have the form of a number of consecutive patterns located above a target surface at the height of and in the longitudinal direction of the tread surface moving in the direction of the person, which visibly move from a distance of between 0.5 m and 0.5 m, preferably between 15 m and 5 m and more preferably between 0.7 m and 2.5 m, from the target surface in the direction of and over the tread surface up to the feet of the person. The speed of movement of the patterns is substantially equal to the speed of movement of the tread surface.