A sit-to-stand device for assisting “normal-like” movements

Sit-To-Stand (STS) is considered one of the most important Activities of Daily Life (ADL). Several devices have been proposed to aid the STS movement, having one or more degrees of freedom, and different features. Some of the designed systems are conceived to reproduce the so-called “normal-like” STS movement, which is characterized by a suitable trajectory of the center of mass of an individual during the transition from the seated to the standing postures. In this paper, we focus the interest on kinematic features during this movement, such as the velocity of a point of interest of the human body. In particular, experimental tests can be used to analyze a “normal-like” Sit-To-Stand movement. Consequently, simulation results are reported by considering a model of the human body interacting with a designed mechatronic device. The developed human body model has been used to test the device both for a predefined law of motion for the actuation, and referring to a real STS movement, which has been obtained from experimental tests.