DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A NOVEL OVER-GROUND WALKING DEVICE: A ROBOTIC WALKER

Abstract

This study presents a novel robotic over-ground walking device with pelvic motion support that is developed for gait rehabilitation of neurologically challenged patients. The walker is comprised of an omni-directional mobile platform, an intuitive human-machine interface, pelvic and trunk motion support brace, and an active body weight support (BWS) unit. This walker not only supports six degrees of freedom (DoFs) of pelvic motion, but also provides natural and realistic gait patterns. In addition, various functions such as BWS, assistance, and resistance trainings were systematically implemented into the walker for effective and successful gait rehabilitation to improve gait performance in people with neurological disorders. The detailed insight of design description and evaluation of the various functions of the walker such as pelvic motion facilitation, body weight support, and resistance training are dealt with in this study. A clinical test with neurologically challenged patients will be conducted in the next stage of our research.