Design and Analysis of a Lower Limb Exoskeleton for Rehabilitation

Abstract

Nowadays, the growing development of technologies has led to look for optimal and efficient solutions to activities that are done by human precision. Particularly, in a medical environment, it should be ensured that the technologies used in patients provide the acceptable conditions in health, safety and care; with high precision. Exoskeletons for medical use are designed to provide therapies for patients with walking disabilities. The purpose is to assist patients in the recovery of their motor capacity through the movements that the device performs. In Peru, most of the therapies are performed manually, involving a routine of movements in which the physical effort of a physiotherapist is required. The technology of exoskeletons makes possible use its precision to achieve controlled movements with a given speed, to produce consecutive homogeneous repetitions, to generate opposition forces or resistance to some kind of movement in a rehabilitation routine, among others. This paper focuses on the design and evaluation of a lower limb exoskeleton which can help in the rehabilitation of patients with some mobility problem, thus contributing to the social insertion, psychological well being, and improvement of the quality of life of patients in Peru. The designed exoskeleton, based on a pneumatic artificial muscle actuator, will serve to an average 11 years old child to an adult and has a four degrees of freedom (DoF) in each lower limb.