Instrumented mobility assistance device

A system comprising:

• a data acquisition system that is operable to receive a plurality of sensor signals from a plurality of sensors associated with a mobility assistance device;
• and
• a use analyzer that is operable to relate the plurality of sensor signals to a contact attribute associated with a contact of a user of the mobility assistance device with an underlying surface, and further operable to determine a gait characteristic of the user, based on the contact attribute,
• wherein the data acquisition system is configured to receive a left sensor signal from a left sensor attached to a left side handle of the mobility assistance device, and to receive a right sensor signal from a right sensor attached to a right side handle of the mobility assistance device, and wherein the use analyzer is configured to estimate an approximate time of the contact attribute including a foot initial contact, using a peak signal representing a summation of right and left sensor signals.

A system comprising:

• a mobility assistance device;
• a plurality of sensors attached to the mobility assistance device and operable to convert an operational action of a user of the mobility assistance device into a plurality of sensor signals;
• and
• a use analyzer that is operable to relate the plurality of sensor signals to a contact attribute associated with a contact of the user of the mobility assistance device with an underlying surface, and further operable to determine a gait characteristic of the user, based on the contact attribute,
• wherein the use analyzer is configured to receive a left sensor signal from a left sensor attached to a left side handle of the mobility assistance device, and to receive a right sensor signal from a right sensor attached to a right side handle of the mobility assistance device, and configured to estimate an approximate time of the contact attribute including a foot initial contact, using a peak signal representing a summation of right and left sensor signals.

A computer program product tangibly embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and encoding a computer program for executing on a computing device a computer process, the computer process comprising:

• receiving a plurality of sensor signals from a plurality of sensors associated with a mobility-assistance device operated on a surface by a user, including receiving a left sensor signal from a left sensor attached to a left side handle of the mobility assistance device, and receiving a right sensor signal from a right sensor attached to a right side handle of the mobility assistance device;
• relating the plurality of sensor signals to a contact attribute associated with a contact of the user with the surface, including estimating an approximate time of the contact attribute including a foot initial contact, using a peak signal representing a summation of right and left sensor signals;
• and
• determining a gait characteristic of the user, based on the contact attribute.