Increased Walking Speed and Speed Control in Exoskeleton Enabled Gait

Abstract

A new exoskeleton control method has been developed to enable continuous joint motion and thereby increase walking speed and speed control in exoskeleton enabled gait. To characterize walking speed and speed control using this controller, a new assessment tool has also been proposed, the 40 Meter Walk Test (40MWT). This paper presents the controller, describes its implementation in a commercially-available exoskeleton, and provides clinical results obtained using the 40MWT with five individuals having spinal cord injury. Results include maximum walking speeds, which varied by subject from 0.48m/s to 0.78 m/s, and speed ranges (max speed - min speed), which varied from 0.33 m/s to 0.55 m/s. As these Ranges were associated with an average Speed Control Factor (a new outcome measure associated with the 40MWT) of 0.43, the results demonstrate that subjects were able to access speeds which spanned several functional categories and were able to control speed in a highly linear fashion while doing so.