Development of an actuated exoskeleton with pneumatic muscles for gait rehabilitation training

Treadmill training is widely used to improve the walking ability of stroke patients.During treadmill training,the movements of the patient's lower limbs must be assisted by therapists.The manual training provided by therapists is demanding and labor intensive.Therefore,a powered lower limb exoskeleton was developed for gait training.The exoskeleton can provide power for the hip and knee joints during treadmill training.The actuation of the exoskeleton was based on the principles of human joint actuation,and each joint of the exoskeleton was actuated by a pair of pneumatic muscles.The actuation model of the exoskeleton was analyzed on the basis of the pneumatic muscle model.Preliminary experimentation proved that the exoskeleton is effective and safe for gait rehabilitation training.