ROBOT-ASSISTED TARGETED GAIT TRAINING
Vaughn Chambers, Madison Johnson, Panagiotis Artemiadis

TL;DR
A robotic treadmill called VST increases heart rate and muscle activity while reducing impact forces, potentially helping with knee issues and fall prevention.
Contribution
The Variable Stiffness Treadmill (VST) is introduced as a novel device for targeted gait training and rehabilitation.
Findings
The VST increases heart rate and energy expenditure in users.
The treadmill activates hip and knee muscles more than traditional treadmills.
It reduces impact force at heel strike, which may benefit knee health.
Abstract
Millions of people are affected yearly by “runner’s knee” and osteoarthritis, which is thought to be related to impact force. Millions are also affected by chronic falling, who are usually both difficult to identify and train. While at first glance, these topics seem to be entirely disconnected, there appears to be a need for a device that would address both issues. This paper proposes and investigates the use of the Variable Stiffness Treadmill (VST) as a targeted training device for the different populations described above. The VST is the authors’ unique robotic split-belt treadmill that can reduce the vertical ground stiffness of the left belt, while the right belt remains rigid. In this work, heart rate and energy expenditure are measured for healthy subjects in the challenging asymmetric environment created by the VST and compared to a traditional treadmill setting. This study…
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Taxonomy
TopicsProsthetics and Rehabilitation Robotics · Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery · Spinal Cord Injury Research
