Body weight supported treadmill training (BWST) has been confirmed that it can improve walking capabilities in spinal cord-injured and stroke patients. During treadmill training, the leg movements of the patients have to be manually assisted by physiotherapists. The physical capabilities and the individual experience of the therapists usually limit this training. A powered gait orthosis (PGO) is being developed that can move the legs of a patient in a physiological way on the moving treadmill. This paper summarizes the design and analysis of the PGO. The anthropomorphically based PGO has two DOF per leg, which are driven by electric linear actuators. The selection of the DOF and critical component design aspects are discussed.
['Zhiguo Feng', 'Jinwu Qian', 'Yanan Zhang', 'Linyong Shen', 'Zhen Zhang', 'Qiyuan Wang']
Biomechanical design of the powered gait orthosis