Universal Mechatronic Test Bench-Gait Simulator for Testing Lower Limb Prostheses

This article presents a new design of a test bench-gait simulator for testing lower limb prostheses and their modules based on the Gough-Stewart platform with six linear drives. This layout of the gait simulator allows simulating movements of the prosthesis components during testing, corresponding to various variants of the user's motor activity. In this version, the Gough-Stewart platform uses linear drives EPCO produced by the Festo company, which are controlled in the industrial automation software tool environment “Controller Development System”. The test bench can be used to analyze the functionality of various designs of artificial feet, knee and ankle joints, as well as transfemoral and transtibial prostheses in general. When setting up and testing control systems for active and semi-active prostheses, the test bench can be considered as a conditional human-machine system in which the gait simulator plays the role of a “man”, and a controlled prosthesis plays the role of a “machine”. An important feature of the test bench is the possibility of it using to test lower limb prostheses and their modules for static and cyclic strength in accordance with the requirements of ISO 2006:10328.