Actuator design for robotic powered an ankle-foot prosthesis

Below-knee amputation is one of the most critical types of amputations related to gait disability. A very effective therapy is to replace the amputated part by a robotic prosthetic lower limb. This limb consists of different design parameters with most important and crucial being its actuator. Since the power transmission to the foot and movement control is directed through the actuator, it is very important to use an actuator which fulfills all the vital parameters required for the prosthesis to work effectively i.e. weight, torque and speed. Conventional actuators available on the market do not control all these parameters. The purpose of this paper is the development of an effective actuator design, for assisting robotic prostheses that can be used by amputated people in the everyday environment to obtain natural gait. The presented design has been validated using finite element analysis (FEA).