Exoped Neurorehabilitation Exoskeleton

Acquired neurological disorders, particularly stroke and Parkinson's disease (PD), frequently lead to severe motor deficits characterized by altered gait kinematics, reduced walking speed, and increased fall risk. Conventional physiotherapy, while essential, often lacks the capacity for the high-intensity, long-duration, and precisely repeatable training cycles necessary to induce robust motor relearning and neural plasticity. This limitation has spurred significant research into robotic-assisted gait training using powered lower limb exoskeletons. Exoskeletons provide a means to guide patients through physiologically correct gait patterns, offering adjustable levels of assistance or resistance, and precisely logging performance metrics crucial for quantitative evaluation. While several robotic systems exist, many face limitations related to high cost, excessive weight, or complex control schemes that are difficult to translate into rapid, real-time clinical application. Furthermore, achieving dynamic stability in human-robot interaction, especially considering the unpredictable muscle activation patterns of neurologically impaired patients, remains a paramount challenge. This paper focuses on the Exoped system—a modular, mechanically simplified ۴DOF lower limb exoskeleton designed explicitly to balance high performance with economic viability for clinical deployment. The core contribution of this work lies in the development and hardware implementation of a real-time gait pattern generator that guarantees boundary condition satisfaction, ensuring safe operation within the clinical environment. We introduce the mechanical specifications of Exoped, detail the STM۳۲-based real-time control implementation, and discuss its specific feasibility for providing intensive, targeted rehabilitation for individuals recovering from stroke and managing symptoms related to Parkinson's disease.

کلیدواژه ها:

Exoped ، Lower Limb Exoskeleton ، Real-Time Control ، Gait Pattern Generation ، Neurorehabilitation ، Stroke ، Parkinson's ، Assistive Robotics