OBJECTIVE To identify the clinical characteristics of proper robot-assisted gait training group using exoskeletal locomotor devices in non-ambulatory subacute stroke patients. METHODS A total of 38 stroke patients were enrolled in a 4-week robotic training protocol (2 sessions/day, 5 times/week). All subjects were evaluated for their general characteristics, Functional Ambulatory Classificati...

In this paper, we explore the idea of using inertial and actuator information to accurately identify the environment of an amphibious robot. In particular, in our work with a legged robot we use internal sensors to measure the dynamics and interaction forces experienced by the robot. From these measurements we use simple machine learning methods to probabilistically infer properties of the envi...

This paper encompasses a study on the development of a walking gait for fault tolerant locomotion in unstructured environments. The fault tolerant gait for adaptive locomotion fulfills stability conditions in opposition to a fault (locked joints or sensor failure) event preventing a robot to realize stable locomotion over uneven terrains. To accomplish this feat, a ...

It is well-known that a suitably designed unpowered mechanical biped robot can "walk" down an inclined plane with a steady gait. The characteristics of the gait (e.g., velocity, time period, step length) depend on the geometry and the inertial properties of the robot and the slope of the plane. The energy required to maintain the steady motion comes from the conversion of the biped's gravitatio...

Title of Thesis: DESIGN, ANALYSIS, AND FABRICATION OF A SNAKE-INSPIRED ROBOT WITH A RECTILINEAR GAIT Degree Candidate: Brent William Spranklin Degree and Year: Master of Science, 2006 Thesis Directed By: Associate Professor Satyandra K. Gupta Department of Mechanical Engineering Snake-inspired robots display promise in areas such as search, rescue and reconnaissance due to their ability to loco...

Basic walking gaits are a common building block formany activities in humanoid robotics, such as robotic soccer. The nature of the walking surface itself also has a strong affect on an appropriate gait. Much work is currently underway in improving humanoid walking gaits by dealing with sloping, debris-filled, or otherwise unstable surfaces. Travel on slippery surfaces such as ice, for example, ...

The objective of this paper is to develop feasible gait patterns that could be used to control a real hexapod walking robot. These gaits should enable the fastest movement that is possible with the given robot’s mechanics and drives on a flat terrain. Biological inspirations are commonly used in the design of walking robots and their control algorithms. However, legged robots differ significant...

Background: Development and increasing acceptance of rehabilitation robots as well as advances in technology allow new forms of therapy for patients with neurological disorders. Robot-assisted gait therapy can increase the training duration and the intensity for the patients while reducing the physical strain for the therapist. Optimal training effects during gait therapy generally depend on ap...

There is a growing body of evidence that nonlinear step-to-step variations are related to how the nervous system controls stable locomotion. However, we still have a limited understanding of how the neuromechanical variables of the locomotive system influence the observed nonlinear structure. Reliable models that closely resemble the nonlinear gait dynamics are required to advance our knowledge...

Designing gaits and corresponding control policies is a key challenge in robot locomotion. Even with a viable controller parameterization, finding nearoptimal parameters can be daunting. Typically, this kind of parameter optimization requires specific expert knowledge and extensive robot experiments. Automatic black-box gait optimization methods greatly reduce the need for human expertise and t...