Design, Analysis and Simulation of a Novel Device for Locomotion Support

Abstract

Active ankle foot orthoses (AAFOs) can be found in the literature exhibiting promising results in the rehabilitation of people with gait disabilities. However none of the referred solutions was yet able to successfully surface the market as a new off-the-shelf product. There are several reasons for that, being probably the most important one the high level of customization that is still required both at the technical and at the user level. In this work, a novel concept of an AAFO is proposed that due to its particular design characteristics is thought to considerably reduce technical customization needs and hence presenting some advantages towards the creation of a new commercial product. An in silico CAD model is developed as proof-of-concept and a kinematic analysis is performed to evaluate motion performance and specific torque-velocity requirements.