Gait Changes with Powered Wear for Walking Aid: Verification Experiment Measuring Walking Motion and Physical Characteristics

This study aims to clarify the relationship between the user's characteristics and the assist effect of wearable robot for walking aid, thereby elucidating the scope of application of robot-assistive technology. In this paper, we report on the transformation of walking movements when assisting forces are applied from a powered wear. The powered wear developed in the study assists the hip joint during walking with a wire-driven system. An experiment was conducted to measure walking movements and physical characteristics. Thirteen middleaged and elderly persons took part in the experiment. The participants were instructed to walk at their preferred walking speed, but some of them showed a slight decrease in cadence and an increase in stride length during assisted walking. Particularly, participants with average cadence tended to increase their stride length when assisted. Furthermore, the participants with higher knee extensor muscle tended to improve their propulsive force during assisted walking. The experiment result showed changes in gait specific to the assistive robot and their relationship to the user's physical ability and gait characteristics.