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The effects on biomechanics of walking and balance recovery in a novel pelvis exoskeleton during zero-torque control

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2014

Dario Martelli ,
Federica Vannetti ,
Mario Cortese ,
Peppino Tropea ,
Francesco Giovacchini ,
Silvestro Micera ,
Vito Monaco  and
Nicola Vitiello
Dario Martelli
Affiliation:
The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pontedera, Italy
Federica Vannetti
Affiliation:
Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation, Florence, Italy
Mario Cortese
Affiliation:
The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pontedera, Italy
Peppino Tropea
Affiliation:
The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pontedera, Italy
Francesco Giovacchini
Affiliation:
The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pontedera, Italy
Silvestro Micera
Affiliation:
The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pontedera, Italy Translational Neural Engineering Lab, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Institute of Bioengineering, School of Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
Vito Monaco
Affiliation:
The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pontedera, Italy
Nicola Vitiello*
Affiliation:
The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pontedera, Italy Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation, Florence, Italy
*
*Corresponding author: E-mail: n.vitiello@sssup.it
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Summary

Fall-related accidents are among the most serious concerns in elderly people, amputees and subjects with neurological disorders. The aim of this paper was to investigate the behaviour of healthy subjects wearing a novel light-weight pelvis exoskeleton controlled in zero-torque mode while carrying out unperturbed locomotion and managing unexpected perturbations. Results showed that the proposed exoskeleton was unobtrusive and had a minimum loading effect on the human biomechanics during unperturbed locomotion. Conversely, it affected the movement of the trailing leg while subjects managed unexpected slipping-like perturbations. These findings support further investigations on the potential use of powered exoskeletons to assist locomotion and, possibly prevent incipient falls.

Keywords

RehabilitationExoskeletonsMan-machine systemsPerturbationWalking
Type
Articles
Information
Robotica , Volume 32 , Issue 8: Rehabilitation Robotics and Human-Robot Interaction , December 2014 , pp. 1317 - 1330
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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