Optimal Design of Pelvic Weight Support System of Walking-Assistant Rehabilitation Robots

Abstract

In medicine, patients in lower limb rehabilitation are suggested to perform sufficient repetitive activities to achieve good clinical results. High-end rehabilitation robots are bulky, heavy and expensive, thus rehabilitation robots suitable for families and communities have huge potential. Moreover, most patients with lower extremity motor dysfunction have poor lower extremity weight-bearing capacity, especially stroke patients, thus they need to be trained with weight support. This research studies weight support system apt for home and community training scenario, and proposes an optimized scheme with high usability. Based on weight support requirement, we divide support system into the support mechanism and a fixable hip safety belt, two parts are connected by a fixed part. Goals of solving structural problems and improving user satisfaction drive us through whole design process. Final product goes through an iterative design process starts from research to sample production to optimization. Through finite element experiment and real-person comparative test, the usability of the optimised weight support system is clarified.