Robotic Exoskeleton for Gait Rehabilitation
Locomotion study for Humanoid Robotic Gait Cycle Rehabilitation
Project Lead
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eng. Amir R. Ali
Executive Deputy
Eng. Malek Mahmoud
Project Members
Eng. M.Sc. Abdelrahman H. Mansour (2021)
Jaylan Hannoura, B.Sc. (2016)
Mohamed El-Zahaby, B.Sc. (2016)
Ahmed Atef, B.Sc. (2016)
Brief description for the project:
Modeling of Robotics has become very popular in the recent years as it saves a lot of work during manufacturing and make it possible to control them precisely. Exoskeletons have taken very serious attention in the last decade due to their need whether for the disabled people or elder people who can’t walk normally. In this Thesis modeling using several techniques is discussed along with some background about exoskeletons and modeling techniques, the new and the old ones, in enough details.
Exoskeletons are becoming a very powerful tool to help therapists in the rehabilitation of patients who have suffered from neurological conditions, in particular stroke or spinal cord injury. This work presents a locomotion study for the normal human gait to be used in the design of the exoskeleton. At that point the investigation of the joints kinematics were done to perceive how every joint from the hip, knee and ankle move during the gait cycle. This exoskeleton is 5 degrees of freedom each leg. It’s implemented for level gait only. This work presents also beside the locomotion study, a detailed design for the foot of the exoskeleton. The mechanical structure of the foot is fundamentally created by elastic. Furthermore, for the entire exoskeleton, the mechanical structure of the exoskeleton is fundamentally formed by aluminum. In this exoskeleton the hip and knee joints are actuated.
Challenges of the project:
In this study, the ankle was not actuated so, actuating the ankle will give the exoskeleton a motion just like the normal human gait as the plantar flexion and dorsiflexion of the ankle will appear in its motion.
The sensors to detect the phase of the gait in the foot would be optical sensors to be more accurate.
The exoskeleton should be able to go up and down stairs according to the locomotion study for the joints during ascending and descending gait.
One target population is stroke patients. In gait rehabilitation of stroke, wearable robots assume the task of moving the patient’s leg in a normal gait pattern, usually in an assist-as-needed paradigm. This means that the exoskeleton should only apply the force required to complete the patient’s movement on impaired limb. This approach can lead to an increase in volitional physical effort while also allowing the subject to focus on the gait process, which can be more effective to motor learning.