Gait patterns generation based on basis functions interpolation for the TWIN lower-limb exoskeleton
Christian Vassallo, Samuele De Giuseppe, Chiara Piezzo, Stefano Maludrottu, Giulio Cerruti, Maria Laura D’Angelo, Emanuele Gruppioni, Claudia Marchese, Simona Castellano, Eleonora Guanziroli, Franco Molteni, Matteo Laffranchi, Lorenzo De Michieli
Abstract
Since the uprising of new biomedical orthotic devices, exoskeletons have been put in the spotlight for their possible use in rehabilitation. Even if these products might share some commonalities among them in terms of overall structure, degrees of freedom and possible actions, they quite often differ in their approach on how to generate a feasible, stable and comfortable gait trajectory pattern. This paper introduces three proposed trajectories that were generated by using a basis function interpolation method and by working closely with two major rehabilitation centers in Italy. The whole procedure has been focused on the concepts of a configurable walk for patients that suffer from spinal cord injuries. We tested the solutions on a group of healthy volunteers and on a spinal-cord injury patient with the use of the new TWIN exoskeleton developed at the Rehab Technologies Lab at the Italian Institute of Technology.