Preliminary Development of Trunk Equipment for Effective and Comfortable Traction Force Application for Infinity Natural Walking Devices

Abstract

In a previous study, we developed a treadmill-type walking device with applying a wire traction force and confirmed to improve the walking experience by offsetting the inertial force when the device was driven. However, the method of applying traction force has not been fully investigated. This study develops trunk equipment for effective and comfortable traction force application. It consists of an arm-ring structure where the traction wire is attached to the ring, connected to the trunk equipment with a V-shaped arm, a rigid plate not deforming with the force transmitted from the arm, and a sponge absorbing the gap from the plate to the body surface and individual differences. The results of walking experiments indicated that the proposed equipment improved the walking posture, and the questionnaire confirmed that the natural walking experience was improved.