JP2013090646A - Movement assist device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a user's leg from interfering in an arm section which supports an upper body support section without causing a problem such as enlargement of a device.SOLUTION: A movement assist device 1 includes: a moving mechanism that moves a vehicle body; a sitting section that is provided the vehicle body and where a user sits; the upper body support section that supports the user's upper body from the front side; the arm section that has an end connected to a bottom that the vehicle body has, and the other end connected to the upper body supporting section; and a foot placing section 15 that is provided in the bottom, and on which the user's feet are placed when the user sits on the sitting section. The foot placing section 15 has a shape to restrict the angle of the user's feet so that toes thereof turn out.

Description

  The present invention relates to a movement assist device that assists the movement of a person.

  In patent document 1, the apparatus which assists the movement of the person with difficulty in walking is disclosed. The apparatus is characterized in that a main column is provided on a pedestal having casters, a column that can be tilted from the position of the height of the main column approximately at the knee is provided, and a holder that fixes the body to the tip of the column is provided. Is. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the user's head from falling or the line of sight to change suddenly, and to transfer in a natural posture.

JP-A-3-218755

  7-11 is a figure for demonstrating the problem in the conventional movement assistance apparatus. 7 includes a vehicle body 111, a seating portion 112, an upper body holding portion 113, an arm portion 114, and a foot placement portion 115. The arm part 114 is a member that connects the vehicle body 111 and the upper body support part 113 so as to be swingable. The foot placing portion 115 is a portion on which the foot is placed when the user 102 is seated on the seating portion 112.

  FIG. 8 schematically illustrates the configuration of the foot placement unit 115 of the movement assist device 101. The foot placement unit 115 includes a contact portion 127 with which the sole of the user 102 comes into contact. The toe portion 128 of the contact portion 127 faces substantially the same direction as the straight direction of the vehicle body 111. Dotted lines written on both sides of the arm portion 114 indicate the swing range of the arm portion 114.

  FIG. 9 shows a first state of the user 102 who has boarded the movement assisting device 101. In this state, the knee 122 and the lower leg 123 of the user 102 are located in a substantially vertical direction from the position of the foot 121. This is because, as shown in FIG. 8, the toe portion 128 of the foot contact portion 127 faces the front. At this time, there is a high possibility that the knee 122 or the lower leg 123 interferes with the swing range of the arm portion 114.

  FIG. 10 shows a second state of the user 102 who has boarded the movement assist device 101. In this state, the knee 122 and the lower leg 123 of the user 102 are located inside the position of the foot 121. This is the case when the body shape of the user 102 is the inner crotch. In such a case, it is inevitable that the knee 122 and the lower leg 123 of the user 102 interfere with the arm portion 114. In order to prevent such an inner thigh user 102 from interfering with the arm portion 114, as shown in FIG. 11, the width of the vehicle body 111 must be increased, and the size of the apparatus cannot be increased.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to prevent a user's leg from interfering with an arm portion that supports an upper body holding portion without causing problems such as an increase in the size of the apparatus.

  One aspect of the present invention includes a moving mechanism that moves a vehicle body, a seating portion that is provided in the vehicle body and on which a user sits, an upper body support portion that supports the upper body of the user from the front, and the vehicle body includes One end is connected to the bottom part, and the other end is provided with an arm part to which the upper body support part is connected, and provided on the bottom part. When the user is seated on the seat part, the user's foot is And a foot placement section, the foot placement section being a movement assist device having a shape that regulates the angle of the user's foot so that the toes face outward.

  According to the said aspect, a user's leg | foot is mounted so that a toe may face outward (it is what is called a crotch). As a result, the user's knee and lower leg are naturally positioned outside the foot position, and the leg portion is less likely to interfere with the arm portion.

  Moreover, it is preferable that a side flange that protrudes upward is formed on the outer side surface of the foot placement portion. Thereby, it can prevent that a user's leg falls from a vehicle body. The height of the side flange portion is preferably 40 mm or greater and 50 mm or less.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the front part of the said foot mounting part is formed with the front flange which protrudes upwards. Thereby, it can prevent that a user's leg contacts the wheel etc. which were provided in the vehicle body.

  The center portion of the foot placement portion protrudes upward and extends in the front-rear direction to form a hollow rib portion, and a part of the moving mechanism is accommodated in the rib portion. It is preferable. Thereby, a space can be used effectively and an apparatus can be constituted.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it becomes possible to prevent that a user's leg part interferes with an arm part, without causing problems, such as enlargement of an apparatus.

It is a side view which shows the structure of the movement assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the rear view which abbreviate | omitted a part of movement assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 3 is a top view illustrating a configuration of a foot placement unit of the movement assist device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration of a foot placement unit of the movement assist device according to the first embodiment. It is a figure which shows typically the structure of the footrest part which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the state of the user who boarded the movement assistance apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure which illustrates the structure and use state of a general movement assistance apparatus. It is a figure which shows the 1st use condition of a general movement assistance apparatus. It is a figure which shows typically the structure of the leg mounting part of a general movement assistance apparatus. It is a figure which shows the 2nd use condition of a general movement assistance apparatus. It is a figure which illustrates the structure for solving the problem in a 2nd use condition.

Embodiment 1
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view showing a configuration of a movement assist device 1 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a rear view of the movement assist device 1 (a part of the configuration is omitted).

  The movement assist device 1 is configured to be movable while a user is seated, and includes a vehicle body 11, a seating portion 12, an upper body support portion 13, an arm portion 14, and a foot placement portion 15.

  The vehicle body 11 includes a moving mechanism including a plurality of wheels 21, a power mechanism that drives the wheels 21, a steering mechanism, and the like. The present invention does not require a limitation on the configuration of the moving mechanism.

  The seating portion 12 is formed at a position on the rear wheel side of the vehicle body 11. As a result, the user's torso is positioned closer to the rear of the vehicle body 11.

  The upper body support portion 13 holds the vicinity of the chest of the user seated on the seat portion 12. A cushioning material is provided at a portion of the upper body support portion 13 that comes into contact with the user. The upper body support portion 13 according to the present embodiment is provided on the front side of the seating portion 13 and is formed so that a portion that contacts the user faces obliquely upward. As a result, the user seated on the seating section 12 is in a posture that bends slightly forward (see FIG. 7).

  The arm portion 14 connects the vehicle body 11 and the upper body support portion 13 so as to be swingable. The arm portion 14 according to the present embodiment has a substantially L shape. One end side of the arm portion 14 is pivotally supported at a position on the front wheel side of the bottom portion of the vehicle body 11. An upper body support portion 13 is fixed to the other end side of the arm portion 14. A handle 22 that is gripped by the user is provided at the upper portion of the intermediate portion of the arm portion 14. The handle 22 may be only for stabilizing the user's body or may be a part of the steering mechanism. A shield member 23 that protects the user's leg is fixed to the front portion of the intermediate portion of the arm portion 14. The present invention is not limited to the form of the arm portion 14.

  The foot placing portion 15 is a portion on which a user's foot seated on the seating portion 12 is placed. The foot placement portion 15 is provided in the vicinity of a connection portion with the arm portion 14 of the vehicle body 11. The foot placement portion 15 includes a foot contact portion 30, a side flange portion 31, a front flange portion 32, and a rib portion 33.

  The contact part 30 is a part where the sole of the user's foot comes into contact, and is formed at two places on the left and right. The shape characteristic of the foot part 30 will be described in detail later.

  The side flange portion 31 is a wall-like portion erected on the outer side surface portion of the both contact feet 30. The side flange portion 31 is for preventing the user's feet from falling outside the vehicle body 11. The height of the side flange portion 31 is preferably 40 mm to 50 mm.

  The front flange portion 32 is a wall-like portion erected on the front (toe) side of the footrest portion 30. The front flange portion 32 is for preventing the user's toes from coming into contact with the front wheels.

  The rib portion 33 is a hill-shaped portion provided between the both feet 30, and protrudes upward, extends in the front-rear direction, and has a hollow shape. A part of the moving mechanism 35 is accommodated in the rib portion 33. The part of the mechanisms 35 is preferably a mechanical mechanism, a motor, a battery, an electronic control unit, or the like.

  In FIG. 2, in order to show the positional relationship between the arm portion 14 and the foot placement portion 15, descriptions of the seating portion 12, the upper body holding portion 13, and the like are omitted.

  FIG. 3 is a top view showing the configuration of the footrest 15. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the foot placement portion 15. FIG. 5 schematically shows the relationship between the foot placement portion 15 and the arm portion 14. As shown in these drawings, the foot contact portion 30 is formed so that the toe portion 37 faces outward (so-called crotch).

  FIG. 6 shows a state of the user 40 who has placed the foot 41 on the foot placement unit 15. The foot 41 of the user 40 is restricted by the shape of the above-described foot portion 30 so that the toe naturally faces outward. As a result, the knee 42 and the lower leg 43 of the user 40 naturally face outward. Thereby, the position of the knee 42 and the lower leg 43 of the user 40 is out of the swinging range of the arm part 14, and interference with the arm part 14 of the knee 42 and the lower leg 43 is prevented.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Movement assistance apparatus 11 Car body 12 Seating part 13 Upper body holding part 14 Arm part 15 Foot mounting part 21 Wheel 22 Handle 23 Shield member 30 Foot part 31 Side flange part 32 Front flange part 33 Rib part 37 Toe part

Claims (5)

A moving mechanism for moving the vehicle body;
A seating portion provided on the vehicle body and seated by a user;
An upper body support part for supporting the upper body of the user from the front;
One end is connected to the bottom of the vehicle body, and the other end is connected to the upper body support,
A foot placement portion on which the user's foot is placed when the user is seated on the seating portion;
With
The foot placement portion has a shape that regulates an angle of the user's foot so that a toe faces outward.
Mobility aid. A side flange portion protruding upward is formed on the side surface portion outside the foot placement portion,
The movement assistance apparatus according to claim 1. The side flange portion has a height of 40 mm to 50 mm.
The movement assistance apparatus according to claim 2. A front flange portion that protrudes upward is formed at the front portion of the foot placement portion.
The movement assistance apparatus of any one of Claims 1-3. In the central portion of the foot placement portion, protruding upward, extending in the front-rear direction, a hollow rib portion is formed,
A part of the moving mechanism is housed inside the rib portion.
The movement assistance apparatus of any one of Claims 1-4.

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