Ergometer-Based Lower Limb Rehabilitation Robot for Post-Stroke Hemiplegic Patients with Voluntary Movement Induction using Muscle Synergy

This paper proposes a lower limb rehabilitation robot for normal walking in post-stroke hemiplegic patients. Ergometers are commonly used for lower limb rehabilitation, but their use has depended on the experience of physiotherapists. Therefore, this paper proposes a new rehabilitation robot based on an ergometer that leads the patient to voluntary muscle activity and learns how to use the muscles required for normal walking. The paper first compares how pedestrians walk between a normal person and a hemiplegic patient using muscle synergy analysis to identify the lower limb usage required for normal gait. The paper then proposes a method to approach the use of the lower limb required for normal gait by changing the load depending on the position of the pedals when a hemiplegic patient uses the ergometer. This will enable stroke hemiplegic patients to train for normal gait by pedaling the ergometer. The above proposed method has been implemented in our prototype robot and the effectiveness of our proposed method has been confirmed in experiments with post-stroke hemiplegic patients as subjects.