Leg-dependent force control for body weight support by gait cycle estimation from pelvic movement

摘要

A movable body weight support (BWS) system for overground walking has limitations with respect to power and space for actuators. To solve this problem, a novel method by which to estimate the gait cycle from pelvic movement and feed forward control for leg-dependent force control are proposed. Based on an experiment on gait cycle estimation, a method of estimating heel contact timing from pelvic rotation is proposed. In addition, based on an experiment on leg-dependent force control, the developed feed forward control method is evaluated based on the vertical floor reaction force.