TY - GEN
T1 - Kinematics of a robotic gait trainer for stroke rehabilitation
AU - Bharadwaj, Kartik
AU - Sugar, Thomas
PY - 2006/12/27
Y1 - 2006/12/27
N2 - Repetitive task therapy is an effective form of rehabilitation for people suffering from the debilitating injuries of stroke. Robotic physical therapy devices have been developed in the past, many of which may benefit from the use of bi-directional pneumatic actuators. This paper presents the Robotic Gait Trainer, an ankle rehabilitation device structurally based on a tripod mechanism with one fixed link. The device incorporates two double-acting, compliant Spring Over Muscle (SOM) actuators as actuation links. The kinematic model of the tripod structure and analysis of the workspace of the robotic device are discussed. It is shown that the device is capable of moving the foot about the ankle joint in dorsiflexion and plantarflexion as well as inversion and eversion, a feature unique to the lightweight, compact and easily portable device. Results of the analysis prove that the tripod structure generates a Range of Motion that matches the safe anatomical range of the ankle joint during gait.
AB - Repetitive task therapy is an effective form of rehabilitation for people suffering from the debilitating injuries of stroke. Robotic physical therapy devices have been developed in the past, many of which may benefit from the use of bi-directional pneumatic actuators. This paper presents the Robotic Gait Trainer, an ankle rehabilitation device structurally based on a tripod mechanism with one fixed link. The device incorporates two double-acting, compliant Spring Over Muscle (SOM) actuators as actuation links. The kinematic model of the tripod structure and analysis of the workspace of the robotic device are discussed. It is shown that the device is capable of moving the foot about the ankle joint in dorsiflexion and plantarflexion as well as inversion and eversion, a feature unique to the lightweight, compact and easily portable device. Results of the analysis prove that the tripod structure generates a Range of Motion that matches the safe anatomical range of the ankle joint during gait.
KW - Rehabilitation
KW - Robotic gait trainer
KW - Spring Over Muscle (SOM) actuator
KW - Tripod mechanism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33845666279&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=33845666279&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ROBOT.2006.1642235
DO - 10.1109/ROBOT.2006.1642235
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:33845666279
SN - 0780395069
SN - 9780780395060
T3 - Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation
SP - 3492
EP - 3497
BT - Proceedings 2006 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, ICRA 2006
T2 - 2006 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, ICRA 2006
Y2 - 15 May 2006 through 19 May 2006
ER -