Design and Evaluation of the Lower-limb Robotic Orthosis for Gait Rehabilitation Actuated by Pneumatic Artificial Muscle

Abstract

In this study, a robotic orthosis for lower-limb rehabilitation training is developed. The robot includes two hip and knee joints. Each joint is actuated by a pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM) in an antagonistic configuration. The bi-articular muscles are used to increase the stiffness of robotic orthosis. The robotic orthosis is evaluated not only by comparing to the normal human walking but also in trajectory tracking control mode. The experiment results show that the angle trajectory of the robotic orthosis is closed to the trajectory of normal human walking and it can also guide the subject to it designated trajectory.