Mechanism design and control strategies of an ankle robot for rehabilitation training

Abstract

It has become a trend that ankle rehabilitation robots replace traditional therapist in rehabilitation field. Many ankle rehabilitation robots have been proposed for rehabilitation training by researchers. However, most of current researches are only focusing on providing the passive training. They not only ignore the active force training for patient, but also neglect the relationship between passive training and neurological rehabilitation. In this paper, an ankle robot combining active training and passive training, subjective awareness and objective training is proposed. The ankle physiological model and mechanism of ankle rehabilitation robot are described. The control strategies of advanced training modes, passive training and active training, subjective awareness and objective training are introduced. Finally, experiments are established to testify the mechanical performance of ankle robot. Furthermore, experiment of passive training and active training is held among healthy people and the result show a good stability of the control system.