Gait Phase Estimation for FES Based on Pelvic Movement of a Novel Gait Rehabilitation Robot

Up to now, an increasing number of stroke patients have difficulties in ambulatory activities. Existing therapeutic treatment has limits in efficiently restoring normal ambulatory function, especially in hemiplegia. Therefor, a novel system and strategy for gait training of hemiplegic patients is proposed here. It is consisted of a functional electrical stimulation (FES) device and a pelvic support robot system. FES is automatically controlled by pelvis motion during gait cycle. A relationship between active lateral motion and pelvic gait was constructed by simulating the walking of patients with hemiplegia. Based on the constructed relationship, an algorithm of gait cycle estimation is proposed. FES control time can be calculated by estimating gait stage of lateral movement of pelvis. Finally, the feasibility of the algorithm was verified by simulating the experimental results of hemiplegic patients and combining the FES control strategy.