Design and Evaluation of the LOPES Exoskeleton Robot for Interactive Gait Rehabilitation

• Published in: IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering Vol. 15; no. 3; pp. 379 - 386
• Main Authors: Veneman, Jan F., Kruidhof, Rik, Hekman, Edsko E. G., Ekkelenkamp, Ralf, Van Asseldonk, Edwin H. F., van der Kooij, Herman
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.09.2007; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Body-weight supported treadmill training; Electromyography; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; Exercise Test - instrumentation; Exercise Test - methods; exo skeleton robot; Exoskeletons; Gait Disorders, Neurologic - rehabilitation; gait training device; Hip; Humans; Knee; Leg; Legged locomotion; Man-Machine Systems; Pelvis; Position measurement; Rehabilitation robotics; Robotics - instrumentation; Robotics - methods; Robots; Therapy, Computer-Assisted - instrumentation; Therapy, Computer-Assisted - methods; User-Computer Interface
• ISSN: 1534-4320; 1558-0210
• DOI: 10.1109/TNSRE.2007.903919

This paper introduces a newly developed gait rehabilitation device. The device, called LOPES, combines a freely translatable and 2-D-actuated pelvis segment with a leg exoskeleton containing three actuated rotational joints: two at the hip and one at the knee. The joints are impedance controlled to allow bidirectional mechanical interaction between the robot and the training subject. Evaluation measurements show that the device allows both a "pa- tient-in-charge" and "robot-in-charge" mode, in which the robot is controlled either to follow or to guide a patient, respectively. Electromyography (EMG) measurements (one subject) on eight important leg muscles, show that free walking in the device strongly resembles free treadmill walking; an indication that the device can offer task-specific gait training. The possibilities and limitations to using the device as gait measurement tool are also shown at the moment position measurements are not accurate enough for inverse-dynamical gait analysis.