Development of Calf Link Force Sensors of Walking Assist Robot for Leg Patients

Abstract

This paper describes the design and fabrication of a three-axis force sensor with parallel plate beams (PPSs) for measuring the calf force while a patient with a walking assist robot is walking. Current walking assist robots can't measure the weight of the patient's leg and the robot's leg which required for robot control. So, the three-axis force sensor in the calf link is designed and manufactured, it is composed of a Fx force sensor, a Fy force sensor and a Fz force sensor. The three-axis force sensor was designed using by FEM(Finite Element Method), and fabricated using strain-gages. The characteristics experiment of the three-axis force sensor was carried out respectively. The test results indicated that the repeatability error and the non-linearity error of three-axis force sensor was less than 0.04% respectively. Therefore, the fabricated three-axis force sensor in the calf link can be used to measure the patient's calf force in the walking assist robot.