Indoor Walking Research Articles

Accuracy of a single, thigh-worn inertial measurement unit for detecting turns during indoor and outdoor community walking in unimpaired adults.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a multi-factorial disease of the Central Nervous System (CNS) affecting young adults leading to significant disabilities over time. MS is now believed to be prevalent in Arabian Gulf area with high incidence due to environmental factors and unknown genetic variations. The objectives of this study was to detect up-regulated potential genes that might be involved in neuroinflammatory process in MS patients in Bahrain and to measure the protein levels of the expressed genes.A microarray was used to investigate mRNA expression from 12 MS patients and 12 control subjects in Bahrain where the mRNA came from peripheral blood leukocytes. Also, 80 MS patients and 80 control subjects were analyzed to measure serum protein levels of the expressed genes by ELISA.The data showed 15,480 genes expressed from over 47,000 transcripts and variants. Only 5 genes were significantly up-regulated in MS patients vs control subjects; namely TNF-AIP6, IL-1RA, OASL, CLC and DOCK4 (p < 0.05). Conversely, KIAA0125 gene was significantly down-regulated (p < 0.0003). Analysis of the effector molecules of the up-regulated genes revealed that 83 MS patients had positive serum level of OASL, 87 MS patients had positive serum levels of IL-1RA, and none of the 88 MS patients showed detectable serum levels of TNF-AIP6, CLC or DOCK4.OASL and IL-1RA genes were strongly expressed in MS patients and that their effector molecules may be considered as biomarkers associated with the inflammatory process of the disease and possibly treatment response.

The influence of relative humidity and ground material on indoor walking-induced particle resuspension

The resuspension of indoor particulate matters caused by people indoor walking could affect indoor air quality and human health. Therefore, it is particularly important to study the resuspension rules of the particulate matters in different indoor environments. The influence of the ground material and the relative humidity on resuspension of the particulate matters were investigated under three kinds of ground materials and three different relative humidity. Results showed that different relative humidity and different ground materials had different effects on the mass concentration of the particulate matters. In addition, different particle sizes had diverse influence on the mass concentration. Compared with low-level loop pile carpet and shaggy carpet, hardwood floor was more conductive to human health which was less likely to cause the resuspension of the particulate matters. At the same time, relative humidity had a great influence on the resuspension of the particulate matters. With the increase of relative humidity, the resuspension rate of fine particulate matters decreased.

Differences In Indoor, Outdoor, And Treadmill Walking In Healthy Young Adults

The ability to ambulate within one’s environment is an important skill for everyday life, however, traditional methods of assessing gait involve walking in controlled settings that may not represent performance in real-world environments. Laboratory and clinically-based quantitative gait assessments are often conducted in a sterile and uniform environment and treadmill walking assessments, used to collect a large amount of walking data, are conducted with an externally driven speed and fixed environment. As such, gait demonstrated in these assessments may not reflect gait performance in the real-world environment. PURPOSE: To compare gait behavior among overground indoor, outdoor, and treadmill walking in healthy adults. METHODS: 16 healthy young adults (5M, 11F, 21±2yrs) performed three walking trials (500m each) at a self-selected pace: indoors around a gymnasium (IN), outdoors along a sidewalk (OUT), and on a treadmill (TM). Data were collected using wearable sensors and the following variables were calculated for each trial: cadence, gait velocity, double support %, step time, stride length. Two repeated-measures MANOVAs were used to compare mean values and variability (standard deviation (SD)) across conditions. RESULTS: Significant differences were found across the conditions for both mean values (Λ*=.038, F(10,6)= 15.18, p=.002), and variability (Λ*=.037, F(10,6)= 15.41, p=.002). Univariate tests showed differences in mean values between all three conditions for cadence, gait velocity, step time, and stride length (p<.003), and greater double support time in the TM condition than the IN or OUT conditions (p=.006). Univariate tests for variability measures failed to detect statistically significant differences (p>.01). The TM condition had a lower gait velocity SD than IN or OUT (p=.001). CONCLUSION: Healthy young adults adopt different walking strategies while walking indoors, outdoors, and on a treadmill.

Gait Event Detection From Accelerometry Using the Teager-Kaiser Energy Operator.

A novel method based on the application of the Teager-Kaiser Energy Operator is presented to estimate instances of initial contact (IC) and final contact (FC) from accelerometry during gait. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated against four existing gait event detection (GED) methods under three walking conditions designed to capture the variance of gait in real-world environments. A symmetric discrete approximation of the Teager-Kaiser energy operator was used to capture simultaneous amplitude and frequency modulations of the shank acceleration signal at IC and FC during flat treadmill walking, inclined treadmill walking, and flat indoor walking. Accuracy of estimated gait events were determined relative to gait events detected using force-sensitive resistors. The performance of the proposed algorithm was assessed against four established methods by comparing mean-absolute error, sensitivity, precision, and F1-score values. The proposed method demonstrated high accuracy for GED in all walking conditions, yielding higher F1-scores (IC: >0.98, FC: >0.9) and lower mean-absolute errors (IC: <0.018s, FC: <0.039s) than other methods examined. Estimated ICs from shank-based methods tended to exhibit unimodal distributions preceding the force-sensitive resistor estimated ICs, whereas estimated gait events for waist-based methods had quasiuniform random distributions and lower accuracy. Compared with the established gait event detection methods, the proposed method yielded comparably high accuracy for IC detection, and was more accurate than all other methods examined for FC detection. The results support the use of the Teager-Kaiser Energy Operator for accurate automated GED across a range of walking conditions.

Prevalence and Correlates of Falls Among Centenarians: Results from the Five-Country Oldest Old Project (5-COOP).

Many studies have been conducted to investigate risk factors of falls in older people, but little is known about falls among centenarians. We analyzed the cross-sectional data from the Five-Country Oldest Old Project (5-COOP) to investigate the prevalence and correlates of falls among centenarians. Data collection was carried out in 2011-2014 in Japan, France, Switzerland, Sweden, and Denmark. The sample consisted of 1,165 centenarians who were at least 100 years old in 2011. The outcome variable was falls in the past 6 months. Demographics, chronic conditions, pain, visual impairment, global cognitive function, dizziness and syncope, number of medications, functional limitation (ie, dressing, bathing, toileting, transferring, incontinence, and feeding), mobility difficulty, poor strength, and assistive device usage were included in the analysis. The prevalence of falls within the last 6 months was 33.7%, ranging from 21.6% (Japan) to 40.9% (France). Being male, experiencing dizziness, syncope, incontinence, and using assistive devices indoors were associated with an increased risk of falls among centenarians. Significant cross-country differences in the relationships between some risk factors (ie, gender, difficulty with bathing, toileting, transferring, and feeding, and using assistive devices for walking indoors and outdoors) and falls were observed. Subsample analysis using data from each country also showed that factors related to falls were different. The prevalence of falls among centenarians is high and fall-related factors may be different than those for their younger counterparts. Given that centenarians is an emerging population, more studies investigating risk factors are needed to better understand falls among centenarians.

The Benefit of a Flexible Ankle-Foot Orthosis on Balance and Walking Ability in Persons With Late Effects of Polio: A Mixed-Methods Study

ABSTRACT Introduction Many persons with late effects of polio (LEoP) have muscle weakness in the lower limbs, which affects their balance and walking ability. Although an ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) is commonly prescribed for these persons, there is limited knowledge if an AFO improves their balance and walking ability in terms of speed, distance, and perceived safety. The aims of this study were 1) to assess if a flexible AFO improves dynamic balance as well as indoor and outdoor walking in persons with mild to moderate LEoP and 2) to describe the participants' own perceptions of walking ability and safety, as well as advantages and disadvantages with an AFO. Materials and Methods A mixed-methods, repeated-measures, crossover design was used. Nineteen participants were assessed at two test occasions, with and without an AFO, with a 1-week interval. Dynamic balance was evaluated with the timed up and go (TUG) test and walking ability by the 10-m fast gait speed (FGS) tests, the 6-minute walk test (6MWT), and timed walking over a 340-m-long pathway outdoors. The Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale was used to assess perceived exertion. The participants' perceptions of their walking ability and safety as well as advantages and disadvantages with an AFO were evaluated with questionnaires. Results The AFO significantly improved (P &lt; 0.05) gait speed, outdoor walking, and reduced perceived exertion at one of the test occasions, but had no effect on dynamic balance (P &gt; 0.6). A majority perceived significantly improved walking ability (P &lt; 0.05) and increased walking safety (P &lt; 0.01) with the AFO. Perceived advantages of the AFO were feelings of increased stability and walking distance and reduced risk of falling. Disadvantages were that it could be difficult to put on and uncomfortable to wear. Conclusions A flexible AFO marginally improves walking ability in persons with LEoP, as assessed quantitatively, but the subjective benefit of walking ability and safety suggests that a flexible AFO can be useful to improve daily functioning. In the future, the design of the AFOs needs to be more user-friendly.

다중 자기센서를 이용한 실내 자기 지도 기반 보행자 위치 검출 정확도 향상 알고리즘

This research proposes a indoor magnetic map matching algorithm that improves the position accuracy by employing multiple magnetic sensors and probabilistic candidate weighting function. Since the magnetic field is easily distorted by the surrounding environment, the distorted magnetic field can be used for position mapping, and multiple sensor configuration is useful to improve mapping accuracy. Nevertheless, the position error is likely to increase because the external magnetic disturbances have repeated pattern in indoor environment and several points have similar magnetic field distortion characteristics. Those errors cause large position error, which reduces the accuracy of the position detection. In order to solve this problem, we propose a method to reduce the error using multiple sensors and likelihood boundaries that uses human walking characteristics. Also, to reduce the maximum position error, we propose an algorithm that weights according to their importance. We performed indoor walking tests to evaluate the performance of the algorithm and analyzed the position detection error rate and maximum distance error. From the results we can confirm that the accuracy of position detection is greatly improved.

ShoesLoc

Currently, in-shoe force sensors have been widely used for step counting and gait analysis. However, it has not been realized that in-shoe force sensors are also capable of tracking walking paths. In this paper, we present ShoesLoc, an indoor walking path tracking method based on in-shoe force sensors. We show that, based on the force signals from a user's shoes, it is possible to estimate the walking direction change and the stride length of each step with machine learning techniques. We further apply a particle filter to combine this information with the constraint of barriers in floor maps, and thus can determine the walking path and the current position of the user. To solve the problem of the low accuracy caused by cumulative walking direction errors, we improve the particle filter by designing the direction correction algorithm. Moreover, we propose the weight normalization method to handle the impact of handbags and backpacks. Our experimental results show that, after a convergence phase, ShoesLoc achieves the average location error of 0.9-1.3 m. Compared with traditional indoor tracking technologies, ShoesLoc does not require the installation of wireless anchors, and has good robustness to environment changes such as the magnetic interference.

Using smartphone accelerometry to assess the relationship between cognitive load and gait dynamics during outdoor walking

Research has demonstrated that an increase in cognitive load can result in increased gait variability and slower overall walking speed, both of which are indicators of gait instability. The external environment also imposes load on our cognitive systems; however, most gait research has been conducted in a laboratory setting and little work has demonstrated how load imposed by natural environments impact gait dynamics during outdoor walking. Across four experiments, young adults were exposed to varying levels of cognitive load while walking through indoor and outdoor environments. Gait dynamics were concurrently recorded using smartphone-based accelerometry. Results suggest that, during indoor walking, increased cognitive load impacted a range of gait parameters such as step time and step time variability. The impact of environmental load on gait, however, was not as pronounced, with increased load associated only with step time changes during outdoor walking. Overall, the present work shows that cognitive load is related to young adult gait during both indoor and outdoor walking, and importantly, smartphones can be used as gait assessment tools in environments where gait dynamics have traditionally been difficult to measure.

Wireless Fingerprinting Uncertainty Prediction Based on Machine Learning.

Although wireless fingerprinting has been well researched and widely used for indoor localization, its performance is difficult to quantify. Therefore, when wireless fingerprinting solutions are used as location updates in multi-sensor integration, it is challenging to set their weight accurately. To alleviate this issue, this paper focuses on predicting wireless fingerprinting location uncertainty by given received signal strength (RSS) measurements through the use of machine learning (ML). Two ML methods are used, including an artificial neural network (ANN)-based approach and a Gaussian distribution (GD)-based method. The predicted location uncertainty is evaluated and further used to set the measurement noises in the dead-reckoning/wireless fingerprinting integrated localization extended Kalman filter (EKF). Indoor walking test results indicated the possibility of predicting the wireless fingerprinting uncertainty through ANN the effectiveness of setting measurement noises adaptively in the integrated localization EKF.

Incidence and circumstances of falls among community-dwelling ambulatory stroke survivors: A prospective study.

To elucidate the incidences and circumstances of falls and fall-related injuries, and to explore the physical characteristics of community-dwelling ambulatory stroke survivors who experienced falls. A total of 144 community-dwelling ambulatory survivors of hemiparetic stroke (mean age 68.0 years [SD 10.4 years]) who were undergoing rehabilitation in an adult daycare center participated in this prospective study. The mean duration from stroke onset was 5.21 years (SD 3.15 years). The occurrence of falls was collected for 1 year with a fall diary. The incidence rates of falls and fall-related injuries, and the detailed circumstances of falls were descriptively analyzed. The characteristics of fallers were explored by comparing background information, motor impairments and results of physical function tests, including the 10-m walk test, Timed Up and Go test and five-times-sit-to-stand test, between fallers and non-fallers. The incidence rates of falls and fall-related fractures were 0.88 per person-year and 2.8 per 100 person-years, respectively. Falls occurred more frequently during daytime and in winter. Falls were caused most often by losing balance while walking indoors, especially on the way to the toilet. After falling, 34.1% of individuals who fell could not stand up by themselves. The time of the five-times-sit-to-stand test was significantly longer in fallers than in non-fallers (P < 0.05). The incidence rate of falls was high among community-dwelling ambulatory survivors of hemiparetic stroke. Appropriate approaches, including mastering the skills to cope with falling, are required, especially for individuals with reduced lower limb muscle strength. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2019; 19: 240-244.

Carried Weight Affects Walking Speed Monitoring with the IngVaL System.

Earlier work has shown that the IngVaL pedobarography system can estimate walking speed during indoor walking using only three forefoot sensors. The aim of this study was to examine if monitoring of walking speed using data from these three forefoot sensors is affected of the weight a person carries, if the person performs a walk in a set speed on the treadmill. Shoe insoles with force sensing resistors were connected to an electronic unit for signal conditioning and sampling and then the data was sent via Bluetooth to a tablet. Fifteen test persons walked five times each carrying five different weights on the treadmill at 1 m/s. The force-time integrals for the sum of the three forefoot sensors were calculated. This study shows that the force-time integrals for the three forefoot sensors shows a linear relationship with the carried weight as long as the person is not fatigued.

A Comprehensive Study of Smartphone-Based Indoor Activity Recognition via Xgboost

Recently, multi-floor indoor positioning has become increasingly interesting for researchers, in which accurate recognition of indoor activities is critical for the detection of floor changes and the improvement of positioning accuracy according to indoor landmarks. However, we have not found a comprehensive study for recognizing indoor activities related to multi-floor indoor positioning based on a robust machine learning algorithm. In this work, we propose a framework for recognizing five indoor activities, i.e., walking, stillness, stair climbing, escalator, or elevator taking. In this framework, we investigate the relevant sensors and features to improve the recognition accuracy of these activities, especially some specific features in the frequency domain and wavelet domain. We propose to utilize a promising tree-based ensemble learning classifier, XGBoost, to recognize these activities. Based on our dataset created by 40 volunteers, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the proposed framework for indoor activity recognition. Considering both accuracy and computational cost, the XGBoost-based indoor activity recognition algorithm outperforms the other ensemble learning classifiers and single classifiers, and the average recognition F-score of XGBoost reaches 84.41%. In addition, our introduced specific features in the frequency domain and wavelet domain can significantly improve the recognition accuracy. Moreover, we use a publicly available dataset to verify our proposed framework and XGBoost classifier reaches 84.19% that outperforms the other classifiers.

A decline in activities of daily living due to acute heart failure is an independent risk factor of hospitalization for heart failure and mortality

BackgroundAlthough activities of daily living (ADL) are recognized as being pertinent in averting relevant readmission of heart failure (HF) and mortality, little research has been conducted to assess a correlation between a decline in ADL and outcomes in HF patients. MethodsThe Kitakawachi Clinical Background and Outcome of Heart Failure Registry is a prospective, multicenter, community-based cohort of HF patients. We categorized the patients into four types of ADL: independent outdoor walking, independent indoor walking, indoor walking with assistance, and abasia. We defined a decline in ADL (decline ADL) as downgrade of ADL and others (non-decline ADL) as preservation of ADL before discharge compared with admission. ResultsAmong 1253 registered patients, 923 were eligible, comprising 98 (10.6%) with decline ADL and 825 (89.4%) with non-decline ADL. Decline ADL exhibited a higher risk of hospitalization for HF and mortality compared with non-decline ADL. A multivariate analysis revealed that decline ADL emerged as an independent risk factor of hospitalization for HF [hazard ratio (HR), 1.42; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01–1.96; p=0.046] and mortality (HR, 1.95; 95% CI: 1.23–2.99; p<0.01). Although 66.3% of patients with decline ADL were registered for long-term care insurance, few received daycare services (32.7%) or home-visit medical services (8.2%). ConclusionsDecline in ADL is a predictor of hospitalization for HF and mortality in HF patients.

Real-time gait event detection in a real-world environment using a laser-ranging sensor and gyroscope fusion method

Objective: Wearable gait event detection (GED) techniques have great potential for clinical applications by aiding the rehabilitation of individuals in their daily living environment. Unlike previous wearable GED techniques, which have been proposed for offline detection or laboratory settings, we aimed to develop a real-time GED system adapted for utilization in the daily living environment. Approach: This study presents a novel GED system in which foot clearance and sagittal angular velocity were incorporated to realize real-time GED in a real-world environment. The accuracy and robustness of the proposed system were validated in a real-world scenario that consisted of complex ground surfaces, i.e. varying inclinations. Forty-three subjects (23–83 years) were included in this study, and a total of 8866 gait cycles were recorded for analysis. Main results: The proposed system demonstrated consistently high performance in detecting toe off (TO) and heel strike (HS) events in indoor and outdoor walking data which was supported by high performance scores. The detection accuracy of the walking data reached 2.59 ± 13.26 ms (indoor) and 3.31 ± 14.78 ms (outdoor) for TO events, 3.36 ± 15.92 ms (indoor) and 3.77 ± 16.99 ms (outdoor) for HS events. The proposed system showed better performance in detection precision than state-of-the-art real-time GED methods. Significance: The proposed system will benefit the development of long-term analysis and intervention techniques for use in clinics and daily living environments.

Reliability, validity and minimal detectable change of 2-minute walk test, 6-minute walk test and 10-meter walk test in frail older adults with dementia

Walk tests are commonly used to evaluate walking ability in frail older adults with dementia but their psychometric evidence in this population is lacking. 1) To examine test-retest and inter-rater reliability, construct and known-group validity, and minimal detectable change at 95% level of confidence (MDC95) of walk tests in frail older adults with dementia, and 2) to examine the feasibility and consistency of a cueing system in facilitating participants in completing walk tests. Psychometric study with repeated measures. Day care and residential care facilities. Thirty-nine frail older adults with a mean age 87.1 and a diagnosis of dementia or Alzheimer's disease who were able to walk independently for at least 15 m. The participants underwent a 2-minute walk test (2MWT), 6-minute walk test (6MWT) and 10-meter walk test (10MeWT) on 6 separate occasions under 2 independent assessors using a cueing system. Functional status was measured using the Elderly Mobility Scale (EMS), Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and Modified Barthel Index (MBI). Excellent test-retest (ICC = 0.91-0.98) and inter-rater reliability (ICC = 0.86-0.96) were shown in the 2MWT, 6MWT and 10MeWT. The walk tests were strongly correlated with each other (ρ = 0.85-0.94). The correlations between the walk tests and the functional measures were moderate in general (ρ = 0.34-0.55). All the walk tests were able to distinguish between those who could walk outdoor and indoor only (p ≤ .036). The MDC95 were 9.1 m in the 2MWT, 28.1 m in the 6MWT, and.16 m/s in the 10MeWT. The cues provided by the assessors in the walk tests were generally consistent (ICC = 0.62-0.89). The 2MWT, 6MWT and 10MeWT are reliable and valid measures in evaluating walking ability in frail older adults with dementia. The MDC95 of the walk tests has been established. The cueing system is feasible and reliable to facilitate the administration of the walk tests in this population group.

Smartphone Heading Correction Based on Gravity Assisted and Middle Time Simulated-Zero Velocity Update Method.

Electronic appliances and ferromagnetic materials can be easily found in any building in urban environment. A steady magnetic environment and a pure value of geomagnetic field for calculating the heading of the smartphone in case of pedestrian walking indoors is hard to obtain. Therefore, an independent inertial heading correction algorithm without involving magnetic field but only making full use of the embedded Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) Inertial measurement unit (IMU) device in the smartphone is presented in this paper. Aiming at the strict navigation requirements of pedestrian smartphone positioning, the algorithm focused in this paper consists of Gravity Assisted (GA) and Middle Time Simulated-Zero Velocity Update (MTS-ZUPT) methods. With the help of GA method, the different using-mode of the smartphone can be judged based on the data from the gravity sensor of smartphone. Since there is no zero-velocity status for handheld smartphone, the MTS-ZUPT algorithm is proposed based on the idea of Zero Velocity Update (ZUPT) algorithm. A Kalman Filtering algorithm is used to restrain the heading divergence at the middle moment of two steps. The walking experimental results indicate that the MTS-ZUPT algorithm can effectively restrain the heading error diffusion without the assistance of geomagnetic heading. When the MTS-ZUPT method was integrated with GA method, the smartphone navigation system can autonomously judge the using-mode and compensate the heading errors. The pedestrian positioning accuracy is significantly improved and the walking error is only 1.4% to 2.0% of the walking distance in using-mode experiments of the smartphone.

Is Science Really Everywhere? Teachers’ Perspectives on Science Learning Possibilities in the Preschool Environment

There is increasing interest in early childhood science education and a corresponding increase in research in this area. Studies have shown that in some countries the teaching of science in the early years remains low. These studies show that science pedagogy in the early years needs attention, despite the myriad opportunities afforded for the informal teaching of science concepts. What is not known is how teachers interpret the opportunities for science moments in these play-based environments. In drawing upon cultural-historical theory, this paper examines how teachers use the preschool environment to promote the teaching of science concepts. Specifically, two preschool teachers from one preschool site participated in an indoor and outdoor science walk where their discussion of the affordances for science learning was digitally recorded. Hedegaard’s (2008) three-step analysis procedure and Tu’s (2006) sciencing categories were used to analyse the data. Findings show that teachers in the same preschool setting have different levels of science awareness for the possibilities of informally teaching science. Specifically, an activity-oriented sciencing approach and a conceptually oriented sciencing attitude emerged. The complexity of teacher engagement in science teaching in play-based settings and their conceptualisation of science affordances in the environment point to new understandings about the relations between teachers’ belief and practices in science learning. Therefore, the findings of this study contribute to early year science education just at a time when the Australian Government is seeking greater outcomes for the learning of STEM in preschools (Australian Government 2009).

Robotic Services Acceptance in Smart Environments With Older Adults: User Satisfaction and Acceptability Study.

BackgroundIn Europe, the population of older people is increasing rapidly. Many older people prefer to remain in their homes but living alone could be a risk for their safety. In this context, robotics and other emerging technologies are increasingly proposed as potential solutions to this societal concern. However, one-third of all assistive technologies are abandoned within one year of use because the end users do not accept them.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to investigate the acceptance of the Robot-Era system, which provides robotic services to permit older people to remain in their homes.MethodsSix robotic services were tested by 35 older users. The experiments were conducted in three different environments: private home, condominium, and outdoor sites. The appearance questionnaire was developed to collect the users’ first impressions about the Robot-Era system, whereas the acceptance was evaluated through a questionnaire developed ad hoc for Robot-Era.ResultsA total of 45 older users were recruited. The people were grouped in two samples of 35 participants, according to their availability. Participants had a positive impression of Robot-Era robots, as reflected by the mean score of 73.04 (SD 11.80) for DORO’s (domestic robot) appearance, 76.85 (SD 12.01) for CORO (condominium robot), and 75.93 (SD 11.67) for ORO (outdoor robot). Men gave ORO’s appearance an overall score higher than women (P=.02). Moreover, participants younger than 75 years understood more readily the functionalities of Robot-Era robots compared to older people (P=.007 for DORO, P=.001 for CORO, and P=.046 for ORO). For the ad hoc questionnaire, the mean overall score was higher than 80 out of 100 points for all Robot-Era services. Older persons with a high educational level gave Robot-Era services a higher score than those with a low level of education (shopping: P=.04; garbage: P=.047; reminding: P=.04; indoor walking support: P=.006; outdoor walking support: P=.03). A higher score was given by male older adults for shopping (P=.02), indoor walking support (P=.02), and outdoor walking support (P=.03).ConclusionsBased on the feedback given by the end users, the Robot-Era system has the potential to be developed as a socially acceptable and believable provider of robotic services to facilitate older people to live independently in their homes.

One-Quarter of People Leave Inpatient Stroke Rehabilitation with Physical Capacity for Community Ambulation

Background and PurposeAbility to walk in the community is important for independence and participation in life roles, but is difficult for many people following stroke. The purpose of this study was to determine the proportion of people with stroke with the physical capacity to be independent community ambulators at discharge from a publicly funded inpatient rehabilitation setting. MethodConsecutive medical records were audited to collate walking outcome at discharge, and to clarify if people with stroke had potential to walk independently in the community as defined by 4 criteria: independence with stairs; ability to traverse slopes and inclines; walking speed of .8m/s or more; and walking distance 367 m or higher on 6-Minute Walk Test. ResultsWhile 80% of the 124 persons with stroke could walk indoors, only 27% could perform 4 essential skills needed to walk independently in the community at discharge from hospital. The proportion that met each criterion was 52% for stairs, 39% for slopes and inclines, 58% for speed, and 40% for distance. For the overall sample, mean (standard deviation) walking speed was .90 (.33) m/s, and distance for 6-Minute Walk Test was 349.6 (146.5) m. Discussion and ConclusionA retrospective review found that three quarters of stroke survivors lacked physical capacity for 4 skills required to walk independently in the community at the time of discharge from a public inpatient rehabilitation. Our findings recommend that people with stroke have access to outpatient physical rehabilitation to optimize walking outcome.