Design and Implementation of Knee Lock Mechanism during Stance Phase of Gait by Supervisory Control of Stepper Motors Using PIC 18F

For many people with disabilities, assistive technology is an essential condition to be able to do their activities of daily life. As the people age increases their physical functions degrade. So in order to provide physical support and speed up of their activities of the daily life many people are using the walking supporting devices. This device should support the wearer during the stance phase of gait. The model developed enables the Orthotic wearer to minimize the effect of hip extensor contraction to stabilize the knee and minimize the sense of security and to balance the body over the assistive device through the stance phase of gait. In this paper a driving circuit is designed, developed and controlled in a more implantable form with minimum resources and affordable cost. The driving circuit for the supervisory control of two stepper motors to lock and unlock the knee during stance phase of gait is designed. Here a Micro-controller is used to control the positions of two stepper motors for the desired positions. The designed circuit is stimulated using Proteus and MP LAB. The driving circuit developed is useful in assistive device to provide lock and unlock mechanism. The simulated results are checked with the hardware setup.