PROVIDING ASSISTANCE TO KNEE IN THE DESIGN OF A PORTABLE ACTIVE ORTHOTIC DEVICE

Majority of current devices, crutches, canes and walkers, used to help people with knee problems are passive orthotic devices. In rehabilitation for knee injuries and aiding elderly people with knee joint arthritis, it is often desired to reduce the load at the knee to help the healing process as well as to relieve pain. However, the use of passive devices may cause inconveniences in daily routines and difficulties in mobility for the user. Current robotics orthotic devices have advantages over passive devices because it is capable of aiding the knee; reduce the knee stress without affecting the mobility of the user. The objective of this work is aimed to study and develop a portable active orthotic device that can be used for rehabilitative purposes. This device is used in reducing the body weight of the user acting on the knee. The first prototype is designed and constructed to carry out tests on the effectiveness of the device. An encoder was also employed to detect the movement of the user, as a reference to drive the actuator. A mechatronic module was used as the controlling system of the device. The experimental results were analyzed for the effectiveness of the prototype device