Kinematic Characteristics of a Walk-Assistive Robot
Hasuk Bae*, Jin Oh Kim** , Han Yong Chun**, Kwang Hun Park***, and Kyung Whan Lee*** * Dept. of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Ewha Womans Univ. Mokdong Hospital, ** Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Soongsil Univ., *** P&S Mechanics Co., Ltd.
Abstract
A walk-assistive robot for walking rehabilitation was developed and the kinematic characteristics of its prototype were assessed. The walk-assistive robot is composed of hip, knee, and ankle joints, and each joint is driven by a motor with a decelerator. The equations of angular displacements while walking were derived by theoretically analyzing the human locomotion, and then the calculated angular displacements were applied to the robot controller. The output angular displacement of each joint was measured and compared with its input angular displacement in the walking experiments on the treadmill at various walking speeds and strides. The differences between the input and the output angular displacements are 5.22% for hip and 2.97% for knee joints, and it has been confirmed that the walk-assistive robot works well just as designed.
