Abstract Rehabilitation robots have become an increasingly important tool in the gait training of individuals suffering from mobility impairments. In the paper, the authors present a novel rehabilitation robot system, namely RailBot-Rehab, with the objective of enabling users to play an active role in self-initiated and self-controlled overground gait training. Unlike the exoskeleton-assisted treadmill walking in traditional robot-based rehabilitation (e.g., Lokomat movement training), the RailBot-Rehab interacts with its user through a forward-facing, hinged and sensorized pelvic bracket, allowing him/her to walk freely without worrying about falls. Further, through the real-time measurement of interaction force, the RailBot-Rehab is capable of generating the desired assistance/resistance force associated with the prescribed therapy. The design of the RailBot-Rehab system is described in detail in this paper. A mobile platform, powered by a new belt-based self-actuated linear drive, generates the sliding motion and supports the human interface. The human interface incorporates a forward-facing pelvic bracket, providing flexible connection to the user's lightweight lower-limb harness to accommodate the natural vertical movement during walking. A feedback controller is developed to regulate the interaction force through the commanded motor efforts. A prototype of the robot was constructed and tested. Benchtop testing showed that the system generates smooth sliding motion and robust control performance under different loading conditions, and preliminary human testing demonstrated the robot's capability of providing the desired assistive and resistive forces during the interaction with the human user.
Ashiquzzaman et al. (Sat,) studied this question.
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