Optimized Design of a Variable Viscosity Link for Robotic AFO

Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2019 Jul:2019:6220-6223. doi: 10.1109/EMBC.2019.8856773.

Abstract

Herein we present the development of a novel Ankle Foot Orthosis for gait support of people with foot-drop symptoms. The developed AFO uses an elastic link mechanism to brake the ankle joint during initial contact, thus mitigating foot-slap, and an integrated energy store-and-release mechanism to support toe lift in the swing phase, thus mitigating toe-drag. This paper presents improvements in the braking-holding power of the elastic link mechanism over its previous version, the torque-angle characteristics of the developed AFO with the renewed elastic link, and a pilot test with one person with foot-drop symptoms to verify the proposed functions of the developed AFO.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Ankle Joint
  • Ankle*
  • Biomechanical Phenomena
  • Foot
  • Foot Orthoses*
  • Gait
  • Gait Disorders, Neurologic / therapy*
  • Humans
  • Peroneal Neuropathies / therapy*
  • Robotics*
  • Viscosity