Rehabilitation robot in primary walking pattern training for SCI patient: Training robot for home-use based on the experiments of the hospital-use type

摘要

Recently, attention has been focused on incomplete-type spinal cord injury (SCI) to the central spine caused by pressure on parts of the white matter conducting pathway such as the pyramidal tract. In this paper, we focus on a training robot designed to assist with primary walking pattern training. The target patient of this training robot is one who is relearning the basic functions of the usual walking pattern, especially for patients with the incomplete type SCI to the central spine, who are capable of standing by themselves but are not capable of performing walking motions. We investigated the movement of joints of the lower extremities, the circumference of the lower extremities and the exercise intensity with the machine. From the experimental results the training robot for home-use based on the experiments on the hospital-use type is proposed. The operating panel, accessibility from wheel chair to the robot and the mechanism were modified for the home-use.