Paediatric robotic gait trainer for children with cerebral palsy

This paper describes the initial design, control system development and preliminary testing of a robotic gait training device which aims to help teach and/or improve the gait patterns of children affected by cerebral palsy (CP). An H-frame, timing-belt driven, 2 degree-of-freedom stage has been designed and built to guide a child´s leg through a gait pattern during over-ground training. The end-effector consists of an orthotic foot brace attached to the stage with a force sensor to measure the physical human-robot interaction (pHRI). Lowlevel controllers have been developed for the two DC motors based on trajectory, force and impedance control paradigms. Initial testing of the system was conducted on healthy children with `normal´ gait. The results from this testing are discussed and further developments for the system are proposed.