Changes in the determinism of the gait dynamics with the intervention of a robotic walker

Abstract

(1) Robotic walkers have gradually been developed over the last decade, and their use has caused changes in gait. However, detailed gait analyses during robotic walker-assisted walking have not been performed. In this study, we aim to identify the changes in determinism of gait dynamics owing to the intervention of a robotic walker. (2) Eleven healthy subjects participated in walking experiments under normal walking, rollator-assisted walking, and robotic walker-assisted walking conditions. We analyzed the measured trunk acceleration to derive the gait parameters, local scaling exponent (LSE, from correlation sum), and percentage of determinism (%DET, from recurrence plot). (3) The walking speed during rollator-assisted walking was significantly lower than that during robotic walker-assisted walking. Changes in the shape of the LSE along the anterior-posterior direction revealed the influence of the robotic walker at an individual level. The changes in %DET along the anterior-posterior direction were also significantly different between normal walking and robotic walker-assisted walking. (4) The rollator decreased the walking speed in comparison to normal walking. The changed LSE and reduced %DET imply reduced deterministic patterns and disturbance to the gait dynamics. The robotic walker only affects the gait dynamics in the anterior-posterior direction. Furthermore, the burden on the subjects was reduced during robotic walker-assisted walking.