Design and Development of a Mechanism for Lower Limb Movement

Abstract

Robotics for human rehabilitation consents to respond on open challenges and opportunities to integrate engineering concepts into human service. This paper presents a modular and reconfigurable robotic device focused on ankle rehabilitation tasks. The proposed configuration guarantees the rehabilitation progression and torque assistance during the ankle exercise, avoiding any potential disturbance. The design has been guided by patients’ requirements and ankle motion. The kinematic, dynamic analyses and the mechatronic model are proposed. The hardware in the loop strategy was adopted and validated using a number of simulations. Finally, the device was validated through a set of experimental tests. The obtained results confirmed the theoretical and simulation models, thereby highlighting the potential effectiveness of the proposed system for ankle rehabilitation.