IP Requirements:

• GT IP

Experience Requirements:

• Coding
• Circuits
• Electrical engineering
  
• Mechanical engineering

Design Problem: The population of elderly who use assistive walking devices for normal ambulation are at high risk of falling and are often unable to get up after a fall. The challenge proposed is to incorporate a lifting and self-driving mechanism into the form factor of existing assistive walking technology such that this population already susceptible to falling can have an easily accessible method to lift themselves after sustaining a fall.

Motivation: The frequency of falls and the inability to get up after a fall among the elderly population is a universal issue with known risk factors and consequences. According to the CDC, about 36 million falls are reported among older adults each year, 3 million of which are treated in the emergency department for fall injury. Some independent risk factors for falling include balance impairment, decreased muscle strength, visual impairment, gait impairment and walking difficulty, cognitive impairment, and arthritis which all are highly associated with old age. Many of these factors are critical considerations for designing solutions for fall management. In particular, declining muscle function with increasing age reduces the ability to get up. In a 1-year study of 110 individuals over the age of 90, 59% of the individuals reported falling, and 80% of those who fell were unable to get up. This inability to get up from the floor after a fall is associated with many complications such as pressure sores, carpet burns, dehydration, and hypothermia. Further, there are many studies showing the predictive value of inability to get up with mortality. However, perhaps more universally, falls and the inability to get up after a fall are especially detrimental to the elderly population’s confidence in independent walking, often measured as the fear of falling (FOF). FOF is equally as predictive of limited daily activity in elderly as having multiple previous falls. Many studies have shown that FOF not only increases the avoidance of activity in elderly such as mobility, self-care, and household activities, but also can lead to functional decline, restriction of social participation and decreased quality of life.

Need and Value: It follows that the need being addressed is to guarantee a method for an elderly individual to get up after a fall, provided that the sustained injury is non-emergent. The secondary need and greatest value being addressed as a byproduct of our design is mitigating the user’s FOF, thus improving quality of life and reducing functional decline in our target population of elderly susceptible to falling.