Design and characterization of a novel knee articulation mechanism

Abstract

The paper is focused on designing a novel controllable and adjustable mechanism for reproducing human knee joint's complex motion by taking into account the flexion/extension movement in the sagittal plane, in combination with roll and slide. Main requirements for a knee rehabilitation supporting device are specified by researching the knee's anatomy and already existing mechanisms. A three degree of freedom (3 DOF) system (four-bar like linkage with controlled variable lengths of rockers) is synthesised to perform the reference path of instantaneous centre of rotation (ICR). Finally, a preliminary design of the adaptive mechanism is elaborated and a numerical model is built in Adams. Numerical results are derived from simulations that are presented to evaluate the accuracy of the reproduced movement and the mechanism's capabilities.