FIELD AND SPACE ROBOTICS LABORATORY

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

FACILITIES

PEOPLE

PROJECTS

CURRENT PROJECTS

• Mirror Project
• Smart Power and Water for Challenging Environments
• Long-Life Micro Fuel Cell Power-Supplies for Field Sensors
• Sensorless Tactile Exploration: Oil Well Mapping
• Past Projects

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RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES

A Personal Aid for Mobility and Health Monitoring: PAMM

Principal Investigator

Steven Dubowsky

Group Members

Haoyong Yu, PhD student
Matt Spenko, PhD student

Introduction

As the elderly progress from independent living or assisted-living facilities to nursing homes, costs escalate while quality and dignity of life decrease dramatically. The transition is mandated by the deteriorating mobility, failing memory, and needs for health monitoring and medication on a constant basis, all because of the physiological changes brought on by the aging process. Great social and economical benefits can be achieved by delaying the progress of such transition. 

The main objective of our research is to identify and develop the enabling technologies for a personal aid for mobility and heath monitoring system ("PAMM") for the elderly living independently or in assisted-living facilities. 

PAMM will ultimately be of a smart-walker configuration, but is phase one, we build a smart-cane as a test-bed. The research work will focus on the fundamental technology of such a system, including the mechanics, control system, sensors, planning and information structure of the system.

Smart Walker

Smart Cane

Detailed Information

Four major research activities constitute the program :

• Planning, Localization and object recognition
• Mobility and Control
• Health Monitoring
• Field experiments and user study

Sponsor

    The Home Automation and Healthcare Consortium

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