Biosignal-based Control of a Robotic Gait Training Lifter

In this paper, we present a robotic walker that aims to encourage the patient's voluntary movement by enabling intention-based control of the mobile base. We proposed two variants of biosignal-based control methods for the robotic gait training lifter (GTL): one method to control the speed of the walker directly from Electromyography (EMG) signals of the muscles of the lower limb, and the other method to control the acceleration of the walker from EMG. We implemented these methods in a robotic walker and conducted experiments with one healthy male and one female participant to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed method. The results showed that the velocity of the human and walker can be synchronized with both controllers in the walking phase. The proposed method allows users to use together with robotic exoskeletons for rehabilitation sessions and has the potential to promote the active participation of the patient.