Abstract
Stability of trans-femoral prosthesis has been established in level walk with passive mechanism, and we previously developed a passive knee joint unit for prosthetic leg that allowed an amputee to ascend stairs. However, each of the functions for level walk and stair ascent has been accomplished in different knee joint mechanisms. To regain multiple capacities by amputees, it should be that a knee joint unit has multiple functions. Therefore, in the present study, we developed a passive knee joint mechanism that enabled level walk and stair ascent with a trans-femoral prosthesis. In the level walk and stair ascent experiment, the simulated trans-femoral prosthesis with the proposed knee joint unit allowed level walking and sequential stair ascending in the step-over-step manner without any assistive device.
