Preliminary experimental evaluation using a leg-shaped haptic simulator to quantify the diagnosing technique of ankle clonus

Abstract

In this project, we have developed virtual haptic simulators that can simulate several kinds of abnormal movements and haptics of the disabled people. In the previous report, we proposed a leg-shaped robot (Leg-Robot) with a Compact MR Fluid Clutch (CMRFC) to establish highly safe human-machine co-existent system, and control methods to realize several kinds of abnormal symptoms. In this paper, we report experimental results in which young students of the physical therapy and an experienced physical therapist used the Leg-Robot. We were able to find obvious differences between them and this fact would verify that this system has a potential to quantify the diagnosing techniques for physical therapists.