Ankle Exosuit for use in Post-Stroke Gait Rehabilitation

We are developing clothing-like, soft wearable robots that use textiles to generate forces in parallel with the human musculature. In addition to augmenting the capabilities of able-bodied individuals, these devices have tremendous applications as assistive and rehabilitative devices for individuals with impaired walking ability, such as those who have suffered a stroke. Specifically for stroke rehabilitation, we are developing a unilateral, ankle-assisting exosuit which provides tunable levels of active assistance to the paretic ankle during the push-off and swing phases of walking. Recent studies with this device have demonstrated that the assistance provides immediate benefits to post-stroke walking, including improved ankle angle during swing; more symmetric forward propulsion; and reduced overall metabolic effort during walking.