MIT-Skywalker: considerations on the Design of a Body Weight Support System
Background To provide body weight support during walking and balance training, one can employ two distinct embodiments: support through a harness hanging from an overhead system or support through a saddle/seat type. This paper presents a comparison of these two approaches. Ultimate...
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BioMed Central
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/111570 |
| _version_ | 1811076928738689024 |
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| author | Krebs, Hermano Igo Sales Goncalves, Rogerio |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Krebs, Hermano Igo Sales Goncalves, Rogerio |
| author_sort | Krebs, Hermano Igo |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Background
To provide body weight support during walking and balance training, one can employ two distinct embodiments: support through a harness hanging from an overhead system or support through a saddle/seat type. This paper presents a comparison of these two approaches. Ultimately, this comparison determined our selection of the body weight support system employed in the MIT-Skywalker, a robotic device developed for the rehabilitation/habilitation of gait and balance after a neurological injury.
Method
Here we will summarize our results with eight healthy subjects walking on the treadmill without any support, with 30% unloading supported by a harness hanging from an overhead system, and with a saddle/seat-like support system. We compared the center of mass as well as vertical and mediolateral trunk displacements across different walking speeds and support.
Results
The bicycle/saddle system had the highest values for the mediolateral inclination, while the overhead harness body weight support showed the lowest values at all speeds. The differences were statistically significant.
Conclusion
We selected the bicycle/saddle system for the MIT-Skywalker. It allows faster don-and-doff, better centers the patient to the split treadmill, and allows all forms of training. The overhead harness body weight support might be adequate for rhythmic walking training but limits any potential for balance training. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:30:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/111570 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:30:54Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | BioMed Central |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1115702022-09-27T09:53:37Z MIT-Skywalker: considerations on the Design of a Body Weight Support System Krebs, Hermano Igo Sales Goncalves, Rogerio Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Sales Goncalves, Rogerio Background To provide body weight support during walking and balance training, one can employ two distinct embodiments: support through a harness hanging from an overhead system or support through a saddle/seat type. This paper presents a comparison of these two approaches. Ultimately, this comparison determined our selection of the body weight support system employed in the MIT-Skywalker, a robotic device developed for the rehabilitation/habilitation of gait and balance after a neurological injury. Method Here we will summarize our results with eight healthy subjects walking on the treadmill without any support, with 30% unloading supported by a harness hanging from an overhead system, and with a saddle/seat-like support system. We compared the center of mass as well as vertical and mediolateral trunk displacements across different walking speeds and support. Results The bicycle/saddle system had the highest values for the mediolateral inclination, while the overhead harness body weight support showed the lowest values at all speeds. The differences were statistically significant. Conclusion We selected the bicycle/saddle system for the MIT-Skywalker. It allows faster don-and-doff, better centers the patient to the split treadmill, and allows all forms of training. The overhead harness body weight support might be adequate for rhythmic walking training but limits any potential for balance training. 2017-09-15T18:58:30Z 2017-09-15T18:58:30Z 2017-09 2016-10 2017-09-10T03:25:15Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1743-0003 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/111570 Gonçalves, Rogério Sales and Krebs, Hermano Igo. "MIT-Skywalker: considerations on the Design of a Body Weight Support System." Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation 14 (September 2017): 88 © 2017 The Author(s) en http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12984-017-0302-6 Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation Creative Commons Attribution http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The Author(s). application/pdf BioMed Central BioMed Central |
| spellingShingle | Krebs, Hermano Igo Sales Goncalves, Rogerio MIT-Skywalker: considerations on the Design of a Body Weight Support System |
| title | MIT-Skywalker: considerations on the Design of a Body Weight Support System |
| title_full | MIT-Skywalker: considerations on the Design of a Body Weight Support System |
| title_fullStr | MIT-Skywalker: considerations on the Design of a Body Weight Support System |
| title_full_unstemmed | MIT-Skywalker: considerations on the Design of a Body Weight Support System |
| title_short | MIT-Skywalker: considerations on the Design of a Body Weight Support System |
| title_sort | mit skywalker considerations on the design of a body weight support system |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/111570 |
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