A robotic tool for studying locomotor adaptation and rehabilitation

Abstract

This paper describes a robotic device designed to measure and manipulate human stepping on a treadmill. The device makes use of a parallel mechanism and a moving coil type linear motor to achieve good backdriveability and force generation capability. We demonstrate that the device does not substantially impede stepping when attached passively to a subject, and can induce motor adaptation and after-effects in a simple force-field experiment.