Lower extremity exoskeleton for gait retraining

摘要

The Active Knee Rehabilitation Orthotic System (ANdROS) is a wearable and portable assistive tool for gait rehabilitation and monitoring of people with motor control deficits due to a neurological ailment, such as stroke. ANdROS reinforces a desired gait pattern by continually applying a corrective torque around the knee joint, commanded by a impedance controller. A sensorized yet unactuated brace worn on the unimpaired leg is used to synchronize the playback of the desired trajectory based on the user's intent. The device is mechanically grounded through two ankle foot orthoses (AFOs) rigidly attached to the main structure, which helps reduce the weight perceived by the user.

主权项

1. A lower extremity exoskeleton for gait rehabilitation comprising:
a pelvic brace; an unactuated leg brace rotatably connected to the pelvic brace, further comprising:
first upper and first lower leg shanks joined by a first rotatable knee joint to provide flexion and extension of the unactuated leg brace, wherein the first upper and first lower leg shanks are adapted to be coupled to legs of a user; anda sensor for measuring knee flexion and extension angles of the first rotatable knee joint; an actuated leg brace rotatably connected to the pelvic brace, further comprising:
second upper and second lower leg shanks joined by a second rotatable knee joint to provide flexion and extension of the actuated leg brace, wherein the second upper and second lower leg shanks are adapted to be coupled to legs of a user; andmeans for creating a torque around the axis of rotation of the second rotatable knee joint; and an impedance controller for computing a desired knee angle at the first rotatable knee joint based in part on the sensor measurements and commanding a torque at the second rotatable knee joint based in part on the desired knee angle.