Abstract
To decrease the risk of falls in older people, gait training robots are needed. However, compliance control, which is the usual method used in existing gait training robots, may cause patients to walk in an unnatural way. To solve this problem, the purpose of this study is to develop a gait training robot that applies torque to the knee only in the pre-swing phase. We investigated the influence on the minimum toe clearance in the swing phase from applied torque to the knee. We developed the robot and carried out an experiment in which a motor pulls a string embedded on the frame that the subjects wear, and applies torque in the pre-swing phase. The results demonstrated torque conditions wherein the minimum toe clearance remains high after applying the torque.
