The gait-locomotor apparatus of the present invention is a device for overcoming impeded locomotion in humans and is aimed at enabling people with handicapped lower limbs to walk. The gait-locomotor apparatus that is wore on a disabled user comprises a brace having a plurality of jointed segments that are adapted to fit the lower body of the disabled user and propulsion means that is adapted to provide relative movement between the plurality of jointed segments. The gait-locomotor apparatus further comprises at least one sensor adapted to monitor the angular position of at least one of the plurality of jointed segments and a control unit that is adapted to supervise the propulsion means and to receive feedback information from the sensors so as to facilitate the brace to perform walking patterns. The disabled user that wears the gait-locomotor apparatus of the present invention is able to steadily stand in a stance position supported by the brace, and is able to walk in various walking patterns using the control unit while fully participating in the process.

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There is provided an activity recognition apparatus for detecting an activity of a subject. The apparatus includes: a sensor unit including a plurality of linear motion sensors configured to detect linear motions and a plurality of rotational motion sensors, the linear motions being orthogonal to each other, the rotational motions being orthogonal to each other; and a computational unit configured to receive and process signals from the sensors included in the sensor unit so as to detect an activity of the subject. The sensor unit is directly or indirectly supported by the subject with an arbitrary orientation with respect to the subject. The computational unit performs a calculation that uses the signals from both linear motion sensors and rotational motion sensors to determine the activity of the subject independent of the orientation of the sensor unit.

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Two medical engineering projects will be presented that are in the field of motor rehabilitation after stroke. The first project focuses on the restitution of hand and finger movements. The concept is the generation of proprioceptive afferent input by position controlled muscle stimulation. As innovative stimulation method the Repetitive Peripheral Magnetic Stimulation (RPMS) is used. Secondly, a novel control method (Complementary Limb Motion Estimation, CLME) for automated treadmill training for hemiparetic patients is presented. CLME deduces reference motion for the impaired limbs based on the contra-lateral leg. This method aims to increase the patient’s involvement and dominance during rehabilitation, while the robot acts as an assistive slave.

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Il est estimé à 30 000 le nombre de paraplégiques et de tétraplégiques en France. On déplore environ 1 000 nouveaux cas tous les ans. La plupart résultent des accidents de la circulation, suivi de près par les accidents du travail et du sport. Les progrès scientifiques menés dans le cadre de la restauration des fonctions motrices déficientes ont été très importants durant ces dernières années. Une voie émergeante est l’utilisation de la stimulation électrique fonctionnelle. Le principe est de stimuler les membres déficients via des impulsions électriques, très brèves, transmises par des électrodes placées soit à la surface de la peau, soit à même le nerf moteur, permettant de déclencher artificiellement une contraction du muscle.

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In this paper, we propose a device to assist persons with hemiparesis to walk by reducing or eliminating the effects of gravity. The design of the device inclu-des the following features:1) it is passive, i.e., it does not include motors or actuators, but is only composed of links and springs; 2) it is safe and has a simple patient–machine interface to accommodate variability in geometry and inertia of the subjects. A number of methods have been proposed in the litera-ture to gravity-balance a machine. Here, we use a hybrid method to achieve gravity balancing of a human leg over its range of motion. In the hybrid method, a mechanism is used to first locate the center of mass of the human limb and the orthosis. Springs are then added so that the system is gravity-balanced in every configuration. For a quantitative evaluation of the performance of the device, electromyographic (EMG) data of the key muscles, involved in the motion of the leg, were collected and analyzed. Further experi-ments involving leg-raising and walking tasks were performed, where data from encoders and force-torque sensors were used to compute joint torques. These experiments were performed on five healthy subjects and a stroke patient. The results showed that the EMG activity from the rectus femoris and hamstring muscles with the device was reduced by 75%, during static hip and knee flexion, respectively. For leg-raising tasks, the average torque for static positioning was reduced by 66.8% at the hip joint and 47.3% at the knee joint; however, if we include the transient portion of the leg-raising task, the average torque at the hip was reduced by 61.3%, and at the knee was increased by 2.7% at the knee joints. In the walking experi-ment, there was a positive impact on the range of movement at the hip and knee joints, especially for the stroke patient: the range of movement increased by 45% at the hip joint and by 85% at the knee joint.We believe that this orthosis can be potentially used to design rehabilitation protocols for pa-tients with stroke. Index Terms—Gait rehabilitation, gravity balancing, inverse dynamics, passive ortho-sis, rehabili-tation robotics.

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