재활 로봇의 실시간 보행 능력 평가를 위한 힘 측정 클러치 모듈 개발

Abstract

In recent years, a myriad of rehabilitative robots such as powered exoskeletons for people with paraplegia or cerebral palsy have been introduced. Such rehabilitative technologies are essential for enhancing the qualities of the lives of the people with disabilities, which can give them back the most basic but the most crucial motion of our daily lives; walking. The preceding researches have largely been focused on the assistive methods or mechanical systems themselves. On the other hand, evaluation methods to quantitatively determine the performance of the robot-assisted walking have not been scrutinized. This resulted in the lack of proper criteria to evaluate and compare the effect of rehabilitation. In this paper, a simple and easy to implement force sensing module utilizing the FSR sensors and a crutch is proposed. The recognition of the current status of the user being assisted and the effectiveness of the rehabilitation can be significantly facilitated from the implementation of this device.