Energy-efficient Walking Mechanism for Gait Rehabilitation

Human inborn walking system has been evolved well-suited to walk in a manner that conserves energy and fast to adapt to new walking conditions in an energy efficient way. Deviations from the normal walking pattern increase the extra energy expenditure of walking around 70%, comorbidity with several side-effects for gait rehabilitation. Energy efficiency is important in robot-assist gait training. We try to propose an energy efficient walking mechanism, coexisting and cooperating with patient to reconstruct the new walking system on the process of gait rehabilitation. Optimizing the assistance pattern to maximum individual performance while reducing metabolic cost, fast adapting to non-steady-state walking conditions.