Authors: Doina Ioana Badea1, Ileana Ciobanu2, Petre Lucian Seiciu3, Mihai Berteanu1,2
Affiliation
1 Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy Bucharest
2 Elias University Emergency Hospital, Bucharest, Romania
3 Department of Machine Elements and Tribology, Politehnica University of Bucharest, Romania
Abstract
Pelvis mobility plays a big role during normal walking. There are six pelvic movements that allow natural gait patterns and center of mass trajectories. The pelvis mechanism is an underdeveloped component in gait rehabilitation systems. Mobility constraints and human-robot joint misalignment appear during gait if pelvis motion is restricted or not actuated. This is why systems should provide pelvis mobility control.
The aim of this review is to help researchers identify weaknesses and come up with solutions for new generations of gait rehabilitation devices.
The data on current gait systems with pelvic mechanisms was collected from various databases on 26 August 2020. The selection criteria included all devices that had at least one pelvic degree of freedom actuated by a pelvis mechanism and excluded all devices with all pelvic degrees of freedom passive or restricted and all devices with pelvic support only for registering data and not for controlling pelvic motion.
A number of 16 devices were identified. Different characteristics are compared, including: the type of system, the system mechanical components, the type of surface, the pelvic robot – human interface, the allowed human pelvis movements and the types of pelvic movements (actuated, free or blocked), the pelvis actuation, the operating modes and the center of mass trajectory.
There is no perfect system; each one of them has both strong and weak points. Research directions are suggested for system improvements that might help future gait rehabilitation devices.
Key words: pelvis mechanism, pelvic movement, gait rehabilitation, overground, exoskeleton.
04-badea26-35Pelvis mobility control solutions for gait rehabilitation systems: a review
