Compatibility test on lower-extremity motion simulator to fMRI

This paper describes a novel motion simulator for the lower extremities of humans using a high magnetic field. This motion simulator provides a wearer with physical supports to walk or physical constraints during walking inside a functional magnetic resonance imaging device (fMRI) room so that brain activity could be simultaneously measured. fMRI is a powerful tool for measuring activity in any part of the brain. However, devices that must be directly attached to a subject are limited, because the posture of the upper body is fixed and the material used to construct the device must be nonmagnetic. This study examined the compatibility of a motion simulator consisting of McKibben-type pneumatic artificial muscles and nonmagnetic materials.