RobcWalk: Conceptual and Optimal Design

Abstract

In this paper, the design procedure of the RoboWalk as a lower limb rehabilitation assisting robot is presented. First, a brief introduction of the robot is presented. There is a horizontal force component that is inevitably generated by the robot, and user may suffer from this. In order to overcome this problem, a dimensional optimization is performed to minimize this component, besides the required torque to be exerted by user at knee joint. To this end, a conceptual design of RoboWalk is described using the dimensions obtained by the aforementioned optimization. The detailed design is performed afterwards, and reasons for designing of each major element are discussed in detail. Finally, it is shown that this design is capable of fulfilling our goals and requirements using actuators with lower torque-speed specification.