Ankle Assisting Device for Walking

We have developed various types of walking aids. However, the required functions differ depending on the target audience and their purpose. On the other hand, based on the results of past clinical experiments, we have confirmed that assisting only the ankle joint affects the movement of the entire leg. We believe that this is due to the chain reaction of stretch reflexes in the bi-articular muscles. Based on these results, we are focusing on assisting ankle joint movements during walking. However, depending on the target audience, from patients to healthy individuals, the required assistance force, degree of freedom, and means of assistance also differ. We have created several pieces of hardware that are easy for patients or elderly people to handle, prepared various auxiliary means, and presented the results of comparisons.