Multimodal Haptic Interface for Walker-Assisted Navigation

This study investigates the efficacy of a haptic interface, aiming to offer the walking frame users accurate, intuitive, and easily understandable directional cues. The research introduces a novel haptic feedback interface incorporated into a walking frame to enhance navigation assistance. The haptic handle encompasses three distinct haptic feedback modalities: vibration, skin stretch, and combined feedback. Ten participants, all in good health, engaged with the haptic handle for navigation. Across all three haptic feedback methods, 60% of participants found the combined feedback to be the most effective, while 40% favoured the vibration feedback; none selected the skin-stretch feedback. Comparative analysis revealed significant disparities between vibration and combined input regarding velocity (p-value: 0.04). These findings emphasize the haptic handle’s capacity to give users an instinctive perception of directional cues, thus offering a promising avenue for assistive navigation.