Development of pneumatic artificial muscle type active ankle foot orthosis capable of assisting depending on the walking phase

Abstract

Many ankle foot orthoses have been developed to assist the hemiplegic person in walking, but most of them are passive orthoses that can perform the necessary auxiliary functions only in a specific phase during walking. Therefore, we have developed an active ankle foot orthosis that divides the walking cycle into four phases by measuring the ground contact of the heel and the ball of the finger with a pressure sensor, and can set ankle plantar dorsiflexion motion assist depending on the phase.