Walking assist device

A walking assist device comprising:

• a frame;
• a pair of right and left arm portions provided on the frame;
• a pair of right and left grasp portions provided on the pair of right and left arm portions, the grasp portions being graspable by a user and movable in a front-rear direction with respect to the frame;
• a plurality of wheels provided at a lower end of the frame and including a pair of right and left drive wheels;
• drive units that drive the respective drive wheels to cause the walking assist device to travel forward;
• a battery that serves as a power source for the drive units;
• a drive control unit that controls the drive units;
• grasp portion position detection units that detect positions of the respective grasp portions with respect to the frame;
• and
• holding units that hold the respective grasp portions at a predetermined position set in advance with respect to the frame, wherein:
• the walking assist device travels forward together with the user who walks while grasping the grasp portions and swinging his/her arms;
• the holding units generate a restoring force for returning the respective grasp portions, which have been displaced from the predetermined position by arm swing by the user, to the predetermined position;
• and
• the drive control unit controls the drive units on the basis of the positions of the respective grasp portions which are calculated on the basis of detection signals from the grasp portion position detection units.