Design of a Novel Gait Simulator for Rehabilitation Training

Aiming at helping patients bring back some of their lost physical capabilities due to injury or illness, this paper presents a novel gait simulator for their rehabilitation training. It can simulate the normal gait trajectory approximately and guide the patient’s feet to follow the preset trajectory repetitively. The gait simulator was developed based on an end-effector structure equipped with electrical servo motor driver. In addition, corresponding control strategies, including passive training mode and speed adaptation training mode, were conducted for the control of the gait simulator. Furthermore, a number of experiments were carried out for healthy subjects and patients to test its stability and flexibility. Experimental results demonstrate that this developed gait simulator has reached designed object and has shown promising prospects as a tool of gait rehabilitation training for people with low limb impairments. Copyright © 2013 IFSA.