Colloquia

Summary

This thesis describes the development and feasibility of a novel 2DoF assistive ankle device. The state of the art in assistive ankle devices focusses heavily on one directional 1DoF support (mostly plantarflexion). With the ankle being an incredibly complex joint, this simplification leads to suboptimal support on the one hand and denies any possibility into targeting specific muscle groups with support on the other. In the past few years, research started to venture into 2DoF support, but as of now no consensus is reached as to what is the best type of assistive device.

This thesis describes the development of a proof of principle for a 2DoF Bowden cable actuated assistive device following a variation on the standard setup of concept developments, concept detailing and final design. It takes the biomechanical data of the patient into account at an early stage in the development using a musculoskeletal model. This allows for a pipeline to be set up that is easily adapted to the patient in question. Doing this early on in the design allows for precise placement of for example the attachment points of the actuators, leading to a more specific targeting of the plantarflexion, inversion, or eversion muscle groups. Several tests were performed that showed some promising results with significant reduction of EMG activation of the targeted muscle group while wearing the device with respect to the same motion without the device.

This thesis thus set the first steps into a Bowden cable actuated assistive ankle device. It set a pipeline for developing a device that can be adapted to the patient relatively easy. The device shows to be functional in the first tests. This can now be used as a platform for further development, optimizing the mechanical design, designing a controller and with that for example further research in the effects of 1DoF vs. 2DoF support on the human body.