Preliminary testing of the fully-integrated cognitive controlled walking rehabilitation system

Several studies have examined whether robotic devices can exceed conventional gait training in terms of long term rehabilitation outcomes. Most of the research reported on promising results and pointed out the advantages of rehabilitation robots over strenuous manual physiotherapy. We present a novel cognitive system for gait training that assessed human behavior with body sensors, electromyography, joint kinematics and utilizes smart algorithms to control the level of joint support in the gait orthosis. The powered orthosis was tested in a single healthy person and several gait cycles were compared with free treadmill walking. The analysis was carried out with an optical measurement system and electromyography. Very similar gait patterns confirmed that the orthosis does not hinder the natural movement of the person. Additionally the functionality of the automated assistance level was tested with a healthy person emulating the bilateral crouch gait on the treadmill. The outcomes suggested that the powered gait orthosis does not hinder natural treadmill base movement and the control sufficiently enables the voluntary contribution of the person. However, additional tests will be carried out in neuromuscularly impaired persons before the system will be ready for a proof of concept study.