Zhang Xiaoqian, Shang Peng, Li Bing
Center of Neuroengineering, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.
Shenzhen Jieshui Medical Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, China.
Front Neurosci. 2023 Jun 8;17:1188776. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1188776. eCollection 2023.
Dynamic Body Weight Support (BWS) systems have gained attention in recent years for their potential in gait training. However, maintaining a natural gait and vertical unloading have been less explored. In our previous work, we developed a body Motion Tracking (MT) walker that can move with patients. In this study, we introduce a novel Motion Tracking Variable Body Weight Support (MTVBWS) system for overground walkers. This system utilizes Center of Mass (COM) tracking and gait phase detection to not only dynamically support the user's body weight in the vertical direction but also to facilitate movement in all directions. The system achieves this horizontal omnidirectional movement by employing active Mecanum wheels, guided by COM recognition. The validation experiments were implemented with the MT mode, passive mode, and BWS mode in "static," "fixed unloading ratio (FUR)," and "variable unloading ratio (VUR)" settings with unloading force of 20 and 30%. The result shows that, compared to other modes, the proposed system in the MTVBWS mode can reduce the dragging effect in the horizontal plane caused by the walker. Moreover, the unloading force can be adjusted automatically to minimize the fluctuations in the force experienced by each lower limb during the rehabilitation walking training process. In comparison to natural walk, this mode presents smaller force fluctuations for each lower limb.
动态体重支持（BWS）系统近年来因其在步态训练中的潜力而受到关注。然而，对于维持自然步态和垂直卸载的研究较少。在我们之前的工作中，我们开发了一种可与患者同步移动的身体运动跟踪（MT）步行器。在本研究中，我们为地面步行器引入了一种新型的运动跟踪可变体重支持（MTVBWS）系统。该系统利用质心（COM）跟踪和步态相位检测，不仅在垂直方向上动态支持用户体重，还能促进全方位运动。该系统通过采用主动麦克纳姆轮，在COM识别的引导下实现这种水平全向运动。验证实验在“静态”、“固定卸载率（FUR）”和“可变卸载率（VUR）”设置下，以卸载力20%和30%，分别在MT模式、被动模式和BWS模式下进行。结果表明，与其他模式相比，MTVBWS模式下的所提出系统能够减少步行器在水平面产生的拖拽效应。此外，卸载力可自动调整，以最小化康复步行训练过程中每个下肢所受力量的波动。与自然步行相比，该模式下每个下肢的力量波动更小。
