A rehabilitation system for secure locomotion training can benefit neuro and orthopaedic patients, as well as therapeutic staff. The system developed by Balgrist University Hospital, the University of Basel and Lutz Medical Engineering is being honed as part of a CTI project.
M. Bannwart, D. Ernst, C. Easthope, M. Bolliger, G. Rauter: Automated stand-up and sit-down detection for robot-assisted body weight support training witht the FLOAT (poster)
Gait and balance training is an essential ingredient for locomotor rehabilitation of patients with neurological impairments. Robotic overhead support systems may help these patients train, for example by relieving them of part of their body weight.
Rehabilitation robots being developed nowadays rely on force and/or impedance control. This is guided by clinical evidence showing better performance if the patient is left with the capacity to influence the robot trajectory. The simplest, yet fundamental, mode of force control is when the robot has to be transparent, i.e. to apply no forces/torques on the patient.
Here, we describe an experiment where we apply horizontal static pulling forces to the upper body of standing human subjects in different directions by means of an overhead robotic device, the FLOAT. Based on a simplified mechanical model, we propose the normalized displacement of the center of pressure, the ΔCoPn, as a measure of the selected balance strategy.
Bannwart M., Rauter G., Curt A., and Bolliger M.: The FLOAT: Interactive BWS Training of Everyday Walking Challenges in 4 Dimensions (poster)
Bannwart M., Curt A., Bolliger M., and Rauter G.: The FLOAT Gait Therapy: A Safe Support System for Training of Everyday Challenges (poster)
Rauter G., Bannwart M., Lutz P., Bolliger M., and Gantner M.: Robust Wireless Real-Time Data Transmission for Robot Control in Neurorehabilitation
Bannwart M., Bolliger M., Schmidt Easthope C., Gantner M., Müller R., Lutz P., and Rauter G.: Robot-assisted Gait Rehabilitation: From Guided to Challenging Walking (poster)
