Optimization of sit to stand motions of elderly people for the design and control of physical assistive devices

Sit to stand motions represent a big challenge for many elderly people even if other types of motions such as walking can still be achieved with less problems. It is therefore important to gain a deeper understanding of this type of motions and provide strategies to perform sit to stand transfers even in the presence of different pathologies and joint weaknesses. In this paper we present a numerical study of sit to stand motions based on mechanical multibody models and optimal control techniques. (© 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)