Abstract
Along with the steadily rising elderly population in Japan, the number of aged persons with difficulties in walking is increasing. We have developed a walking training machine for assisting the gait exercises of the patients in hospitals. The walking training machine has devices to unload patient's body weight and to prevent patient's falling. These devices consist of only mechanical components without actuators, controllers and batteries. A brake mechanism is used in the device to prevent patient's falling. In this paper, first, we analyze the brake mechanism. Second, on the basis of the analysis results, we design and develop a new device to prevent patient's falling. The usefulness of the device to prevent patient's falling is experimentally examined.
