Patient transfer is a challenging, critical task because it exposes caregivers to injury risks. Available transfer devices, like floor lifts, lead to improvements but are far from perfect. They do not eliminate the caregivers risk of musculoskeletal disorders, and they can be burdensome to use due to their poor maneuverability. This paper presents a new motorized floor lift with a single central motorized wheel connected to an instrumented handle. Admittance controllers are designed to 1) improve the device maneuverability, 2) reduce the required caregiver effort, and 3) ensure the security and comfort of patients. Two controller designs, one with a linear admittance law and a non-linear admittance law with variable damping, were developed and implemented on a prototype. Tests were performed on seven participants to evaluate the performance of the assistance system and the controllers. The experimental results show that 1) the motorized assistance with the variable damping controller improves maneuverability by 28%, 2) reduces the amount of effort required to push the lift by 66% and 3) provides the same level of patient comfort compared to a standard unassisted floor lift.

翻译：病人转移是一项具有挑战性的关键任务，因为它使护理人员面临受伤风险。现有的转移设备，如地升机，虽有所改进，但远非完美。它们未能消除护理人员患肌肉骨骼疾病的风险，且因其操控性差而使用起来可能颇为费力。本文提出了一种新型电动地升机，其配备单个中央电动轮并与一个装有传感器的把手相连。设计了导纳控制器以实现以下目标：1) 提高设备操控性，2) 减少所需护理人员用力，3) 确保病人的安全与舒适。开发了两种控制器设计，一种是线性导纳律，另一种是具有可变阻尼的非线性导纳律，并在原型机上实现。对七名参与者进行了测试，以评估辅助系统和控制器的性能。实验结果表明：1) 采用可变阻尼控制器的电动辅助将操控性提高了28%，2) 将推动地升机所需的力量减少了66%，3) 与标准的无辅助地升机相比，提供了相同水平的病人舒适度。