An ankle robot for a modular gait rehabilitation system

Abstract

In this paper, we present considerations for a novel robot to rehabilitate the ankle following stroke. This module has been developed at MIT and should commence pilot testing with stroke patients at the Baltimore Veterans Administration Medical Center by the end of Summer 2004. The purpose of the module is to train stroke survivors to overcome the common foot-drop problem. Its design follows the same guidelines as our upper-extremity designs, i.e., it is a low friction, backdriveable device with intrinsically low mechanical impedance.