Ankle-less walking assistant apparatus and method for controlling the same
AssigneeHyundai Motor Company
InventorsDong Jin HYUN, Kyung Mo JUNG, Sang In PARK, Hyun Seop LIM
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Abstract
An ankle-less walking assistant apparatus includes: a body supporting the back of a wearer; left and right hip joint-drivers extending from both sides of the body; left and right thigh links having first ends connected to the left and right hip joint-drivers, respectively; left and right knee-drivers connected to second ends of the left and right thigh links, respectively; left and right calf links having first ends connected to the left and right knee-drivers, respectively; and ground-contact feet fixed to second ends of the left and right calf links, respectively.
Claims31
An ankle-less walking assistant apparatus comprising:
- a body supporting a back of a wearer;
- left and right hip joint-drivers extending from both sides of the body;
- left and right thigh links having first ends connected to the left and right hip joint-drivers, respectively;
- left and right knee-drivers connected to second ends of the left and right thigh links, respectively;
- left and right calf links having first ends connected to the left and right knee-drivers, respectively;
- and
- ground-contact feet fixed to second ends of the left and right calf links, respectively.
A method for controlling an ankle-less walking assistant apparatus, which includes:
- a body supporting a back of a wearer;
- left and right hip joint-drivers extending from both sides of the body;
- left and right thigh links having first ends connected to the left and right hip joint-drivers, respectively;
- left and right knee-drivers connected to second ends of the left and right thigh links, respectively;
- left and right calf links having first ends connected to the left and right knee-drivers, respectively;
- ground-contact feet fixed to second ends of the left and right calf links, respectively;
- and pressure sensor disposed on soles of both legs of the wearer, the method comprising steps of:
- sensing pressure on the soles of the wearer by a pressure sensor;
- determining gait phases of both a leg to be controlled and another leg based on a the pressure sensed by the pressure sensor by a controller;
- and
- selecting one of a plurality of control modes set in advance on the basis of the determined gait phases, and controlling the hip joint-drivers and the knee-drivers of the leg to be controlled by the controller.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.