Artificial intelligence is helping people regain their mobility after certain neurological injuries. A
To avoid persistent difficulties walking after a stroke or spinal injury, walking assistance is crucial. But this is a slow process that, if done wrong, can lead to a permanently impaired gait.
In the past, several physiotherapists were needed to physically support and guide each person through the process of learning to walk again. But staff are expensive, so robotic harnesses have recently been introduced.
While such harnesses can be personalised at the start of a treadmill walking session, they don’t adjust dynamically to correct a person’s particular gait in real time – which can actually hinder improvement. So for example, unlike a physiotherapist, a harness can’t spot if someone is moving unnaturally and correct them. And if a person keeps repeating abnormal movements, these risk becoming a permanent part of their gait.
The new smart harness, developed by researchers from NCCR Robotics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne and the Lausanne University Hospital, prevents this from happening. Rather than simply supporting a person’s weight, as existing harnesses do, it can also correct their gait by pushing them forward or back, or side to side.
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