Conventional gait rehabilitation requires at least three therapists in a traditional rehabilitation training program. Several robots have been developed to reduce human burden and increase rehabilitation efficacy. In this study, we present a lower-limb wearable robot (WA-H) for gait rehabilitation of hemiplegia patients, and propose a protocol of 12 weeks gait rehabilitation training program using WA-H. To identify the efficacy of the robot and protocols, we conducted a clinical study with two actual hemiplegia patients and observed a chronological change of ambulation ability through four assessments. We discovered the progression of results by 6 minute walking test, TUGT (Timed Up and Go Test), SPPB (Short Physical Performance Battery), BBS (Berg Balance Test), and Fugl-Meyer score. The torques generated in the normal side and paralyzed side of the patient became similar, indicating rehabilitation. The result also showed the walking of the paralysis patient improved and imbalance motion had considerable improved performance.
Patients with paralyzed upper extremities due to central nervous system lesion after stroke, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury receive rehabilitation therapy. The rehabilitation robot is studied for the effective therapy. To train the patients more effectively, it is necessary to study not only mechanisms of robots but also control strategy for rehabilitation. The purpose of various control algorithms for therapy is to implement various training repetitively and intensively. Then, these control strategies can induce the plasticity of motors and brain and improve patient s motor recovery. In this paper, we propose the upper limb robot system for neurorehabilitation. This robot is combined with the path control algorithm applying H-infinity optimization to impedance control for virtual tunnel. We present the entire robot system, robot s mechanism and procedure of optimizing the path controller for robustness. Also, the robot system is verified by test with a healthy person before it applies to the paralyzed patients.
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