Design and Development of Assistive Leg for Lower Limb Rehabilitation

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to design and develop an assistive leg for the paralyzed patients, which supports them, by changing their paralyzed gait pattern to normal gait pattern. The normal gait pattern is achieved by reflex action. Two angle measurement sensors are mounted in the normal leg and two servo motors are mounted in the paralytic leg-at the hip and ankle. The principle is that as the person takes a step in his normal leg, the sensors detect the amount of leg movement and sent the data to microcontroller. Then the servo motors in the paralytic leg are actuated based on the commands from the microcontroller depending on the type of gait suitable for the person. It is observed in such patients that they follow three kinds of gait. Depending on the amount of normal leg movement the gait pattern is decided and the servo motors rotate to move the paralytic leg. During all these, the person still takes the help from the walking aid.