Design and Simulation Analysis of a Robot-Assisted Gait Trainer with the PBWS System.

Jiancheng (Charles) Ji,Guoxiang Wang,Guoqing Zhang,Yuanyuan Lin,Yufeng Wang,Mufti Mahmud

doi:10.1155/2021/2750936

Abstract

In response to the ever-increasing demand of lower limb rehabilitation, this paper presents a novel robot-assisted gait trainer (RGT) to assist the elderly and the pediatric patients with neurological impairments in the lower limb rehabilitation training (LLRT). The RGT provides three active degrees of freedom (DoF) to both legs that are used to implement the gait cycle in such a way that the natural gait is not significantly affected. The robot consists of (i) the partial body weight support (PBWS) system to assist patients in sit-to-stand transfer via the precision linear rail system and (ii) the bipedal end-effector (BE) to control the motions of lower limbs via two mechanical arms. The robot stands out for multiple modes of training and optimized functional design to improve the quality of life for those patients. To analyze the performance of the RGT, the kinematic and static models are established in this paper. After that, the reachable workspace and motion trajectory are analyzed to cover the motion requirements and implement natural gait cycle. The preliminary results demonstrate the usability of the robot.

Highlights

Along with development of the aging society, the lower limb rehabilitation demands of the elderly and the pediatric patients with neurological impairments are getting larger [1] and there are at least 36 million disabilities reported by the World Health Organization in 2016 [2]
For pediatric patients suffering from stroke, traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, infantile cerebral palsy, and Parkinson’s disease, mobility and balance are the essential factors in the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) [3]
Us, a novel robot-assisted gait trainer (RGT) is presented to help with sit-to-stand transfer, active gait training, and balance function assessment in this paper, and the advantages of this design are given as follows: (i) to provide users with bilateral body weight support and help with the active control of pelvic obliquity; (ii) to meet the needs of the pelvic motions passively; (iii) to combine the partial body weight support (PBWS) and the bipedal end-effector (BE) to control the lower limb movements, such as Hip Flex./Ext., Knee Flex./Ext., and Dorsi

Summary

Research Article

Design and Simulation Analysis of a Robot-Assisted Gait Trainer with the PBWS System. In response to the ever-increasing demand of lower limb rehabilitation, this paper presents a novel robot-assisted gait trainer (RGT) to assist the elderly and the pediatric patients with neurological impairments in the lower limb rehabilitation training (LLRT). E RGT provides three active degrees of freedom (DoF) to both legs that are used to implement the gait cycle in such a way that the natural gait is not significantly affected. E robot consists of (i) the partial body weight support (PBWS) system to assist patients in sit-to-stand transfer via the precision linear rail system and (ii) the bipedal end-effector (BE) to control the motions of lower limbs via two mechanical arms. The reachable workspace and motion trajectory are analyzed to cover the motion requirements and implement natural gait cycle. The reachable workspace and motion trajectory are analyzed to cover the motion requirements and implement natural gait cycle. e preliminary results demonstrate the usability of the robot

Introduction

Force sensor

Gain PD Sensors

Pelvic Obliquity

Trajectoryh Trajectorym