The effects of a passive ankle exoskeleton on biomechanical performance during overground walking

A passive ankle exoskeleton is a critical method for gait assistance. Most studies have explored biomechanical analysis over treadmill walking tasks. However, regarding the difference between treadmill and overground walking, the effects of a passive ankle exoskeleton on healthy participants were firstly investigated in this study. Five young participants walked along a straight path on the flat ground under three exoskeleton-wearing conditions while EMG signals of four lower-limb muscles and the joint angles, moments, and powers were derived. Two-factor ANOVA analyses were applied to investigate the effect of the exoskeleton on gait performance. The results showed that the ankle moment and power with exoskeleton wearing were significantly reduced compared to the other two conditions. The average activation of the MG was decreased by 13% with wearing the exoskeleton compared with normal walking. The self-designed passive ankle exoskeleton performed an assistance effect on the overground walking.