Research in robotic gait rehabilitation still faces many challenges regarding ankle assistance, body weight support and human-robot interaction. This paper reports on the development, focusing on these challenges, of a gait rehabilitation exoskeleton powered by pleated pneumatic artificial muscles. The first prototype is intended as a platform for the evaluation of design and control concepts. The mechanical design procedure is explained with the emphasis on optimization. A proxy-based sliding mode control approach is proposed and evaluated by means of simulation. Simulation results indicate good tracking performance and safe system behavior, encouraging experimental validation on the prototype.
['P. Beyl', 'M. Van Damme', 'R. Van Ham', 'R. Versluys', 'Bram Vanderborght', 'Dirk Lefeber']
An exoskeleton for gait rehabilitation: Prototype design and control principle