A speed-independent feedback index for walking pattern recognition for a walking assistive robotic suit

This paper presents a new speed-independent feedback index for effectively recognizing walking pattern for real-time control of a robotic suit. The presented index maintains almost constant for each walking pattern at different walking speed. Besides that, its value becomes minimum in the case of healthy walking pattern. Experiments on elderly and young subjects confirmed the effectiveness of the presented. Moreover, the experimental results suggest that, as a walking assistive device, it should bring the index value as small as possible for improving walking pattern.