Development of an assist controller with robot suit HAL for hemiplegic patients using motion data on the unaffected side
- Resource Type
- Conference
- Authors
- Kawamoto, Hiroaki; Kandone, Hideki; Sakurai, Takeru; Ariyasu, Ryohei; Ueno, Yukiko; Eguchi, Kiyoshi; Sankai, Yoshiyuki
- Source
- 2014 36th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2014 36th Annual International Conference of the IEEE. :3077-3080 Aug, 2014
- Subject
- Bioengineering
Joints
Knee
Legged locomotion
Hip
Robot sensing systems
Foot
- Language
- ISSN
- 1094-687X
1558-4615
Among several characteristics seen in gait of hemiplegic patients after stroke, symmetry is known to be an indicator of the degree of impairment of walking ability. This paper proposes a control method for a wearable type lower limb motion assist robot to realize spontaneous symmetric gait for these individuals. This control method stores the motion of the unaffected limb during swing and then provides motion support on the affected limb during the subsequent swing using the stored pattern to realize symmetric gait based on spontaneous limb swing. This method is implemented on the robot suit HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limbs). Clinical tests were conducted in order to assess the feasibility of the control method. Our case study involved participation of one chronic stroke patient who was not able to flex his right knee. As a result, the walking support for hemiplegic leg provided by the HAL improved the subject's gait symmetry. The feasibility study showed promising basis for the future clinical study.