DEVELOPMENT OF PNEUMATIC WALKING SUPPORT SHOES USING POTENTIAL ENERGY OF HUMAN

Abstract

Among the elderly person, most of their injuries are reported to be caused by falling down with stumbling. It is due to their shuffling walking style resulted from deterioration of their dorsiflexion muscle force along with aging. Walking plays an important role in their independent day life. In this study we aim at developing a wearable walking support equipment embedded into shoes for a purpose of fall prevention of elderly person. A commercial product of Ankle Foot Orthosis is introduced and newly developed wire type pneumatic actuator is equipped on to support dorsi- flexion motion during swing period at walking motion actively. In generally, these kind of active supporting systems require power source. We propose a driving scheme with no use of electric power, but with only potential energy of the wearer. Required specifications for the equipment are derived and the validity of proposed walking support shoes is verified through some experiments.