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Background Nowadays, the most widely used types of wearable sensors in gait analysis are inertial sensors. The aim of the study was to assess the agreement between two different systems for measuring gait parameters (inertial sensor vs. electronic walkway) on healthy control subjects (HC) and patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Methods Forty healthy volunteers (26 men, 14 women, mean age 58.7 ± 7.7 years) participated in the study and 24 PD patients (19 men, five women, mean age 62.7 ± 9.8 years). Each participant walked across an electronic walkway, GAITRite, with embedded pressure sensors at their preferred walking speed. Concurrently a G-Walk sensor was attached with a semi-elastic belt to the L5 spinal segment of the subject. Walking speed, cadence, stride duration, stride length, stance, swing, single support and double support phase values were compared between both systems. Results The Passing-Bablock regression slope line manifested the values closest to 1.00 for cadence and stride duration (0.99 ≤ 1.00) in both groups. The slope of other parameters varied between 0.26 (double support duration in PD) and 1.74 (duration of single support for HC). The mean square error confirmed the best fit of the regression line for speed, stride duration and stride length. The y-intercepts showed higher systematic error in PD than HC for speed, stance, swing, and single support phases. Conclusions The final results of this study indicate that the G-Walk system can be used for evaluating the gait characteristics of the healthy subjects as well as the PD patients. However, the duration of the gait cycle phases should be used with caution due to the presence of a systematic error.

Currently, new methods are applied to monitor the involuntary movement and other physiological movements, but physicians do not always require complex equipment or they do not accept the use of devices connected to the patient. We invented a new method which is suitable to monitor the small movements of the patient in a horizontal position on the bed or monitor the movements during short term medical examination. The method is based on the use of sensors configured to detect deformation of construction of the bed. Sensors are implemented into the construction of the bed and detect bending of the elements of the bed. The invented method provides information about the patient's physiological movements, namely it is the breathing rate and heart rate. The method was tested on a set of volunteers / students in order to verify that it works and can be proposed as an application in clinical practice.

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SUMMARYGiven the advanced breakthroughs in the field of supportive robotic technologies, interest in the integration of the human body and a robot into a single system has rapidly increased. The aim of this work is to provide an overview of empowering lower limbs exoskeletons. Along with lower exoskeleton limbs, their unique design concepts, operator–exoskeleton interactions and control strategies are described. Although many problems have been solved in recent development, many challenges remain. Especially in the context of infantry soldiers, fire fighters and rescuers, the challenges of empowering exoskeletons are discussed, and improvements are outlined and described. This study is not only a summary of the current state, but also points to weaknesses of empowering lower limbs exoskeletons and outlines possible improvements.

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