Characterization of a Pneumatic Artificial Muscle for its application in an Active Ankle-Foot Orthosis

Abstract

The training of lower limbs with robotic exoskeletons or active orthoses has proven to be an effective tool to help patients with various types of neurological movement disorders, to recover their functional ambulation capacity. A key component to achieve this purpose is the type of active element used to compensate for muscle weakness, typically observed in such locomotor disorders. Based on these considerations, this paper presents the results of an experimental test developed for calibration, tuning and behavioral identification of a commercial pneumatic artificial muscle Festo®, with view to its application as active element of an active ankle – foot orthosis prototype for human gait rehabilitation. It is expected that such prototype would enable to recover the ankle joint function in patients with Myelomeningocele. The actuator performance analysis from the achieved tests, as well as the study of gait patterns in persons with Myelomeningocele, evidence the potentiality of this actuator as an active element of a robotic exoskeleton applied to human gait rehabilitation.