The AGoRA V2 unilateral lower-limb exoskeleton: Mechatronic integration and biomechanical assessment

Otalora, Sophia; Ballen-Moreno, Felipe; Arciniegas-Mayag, Luis; Munera, Marcela; Cifuentes, Carlos A.

Abstract

People who suffer from stroke have a higher difficulty performing gait activity, affecting their quality of life. New technologies have been developed to assist and rehabilitate the affected limbs. This paper presents the AGoRA V2 unilateral lower-limb exoskeleton and the assessment of physiological and spatiotemporal parameters of gait in 10 subjects who participated in a test. AGORA V2 combine a stiff structure for the Hip and Knee and the T-FLEX ankle exoskeleton (soft structure). The results showed a significant decrease in muscle activity compared to the condition without an exoskeleton. This decrease was 8% in Biceps Femoris (BF) muscle activity and 4% in Vastus Medialis (VM) muscle activity, generated by proper assistance of the devices thigh muscles. Tibialis Anterior (TA) and Lateral Gastrocnemius (LG) muscles and gait times did not show significant changes, which can be interpreted as a correct synchronisation of the devices with the person's gait. The results obtained can be used as a baseline for future studies with pathological patients.

Citation

Otalora, S., Ballen-Moreno, F., Arciniegas-Mayag, L., Munera, M., & Cifuentes, C. A. (2022). The AGoRA V2 unilateral lower-limb exoskeleton: Mechatronic integration and biomechanical assessment. In 2022 9th IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference for Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob). https://doi.org/10.1109/BioRob52689.2022.9925487

• Conference Name: 2022 9th IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference for Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob)
• Conference Location: Seoul, Korea, Republic of
• Start Date: Aug 21, 2022
• End Date: Aug 24, 2022
• Acceptance Date: Jun 15, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Nov 3, 2022
• Publication Date: Nov 3, 2022
• Deposit Date: Mar 1, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 1, 2023
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• Volume: 2022-August
• Series ISSN: 2155-1782
• Book Title: 2022 9th IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference for Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob)
• ISBN: 9781665458498
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/BioRob52689.2022.9925487
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10148473
• Publisher URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9925487
• Related Public URLs: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome/9925247/proceeding