Study of the mechanical knee joint of Knee-Ankle-Foot Orthosis using braking system

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To control the movement of the mechanical knee joint of the Knee-Ankle-Foot Orthoses(KAFO) it is necessary to detect the contact timing of the both feet during gait. As a control signal of thd knee joint the possibility of the braking force of the mechanical ankle joint of the KAFO was investigated. An oil damper was set to the mechanical ankle joint of an experimental KAFO and the time difference of the contact of the opposite foot and peak value of the friction force of the oil damper was measured. Result showed that the friction force could not give stable information for the contact of the opposite foot. However it was found that the braking function of the mechanical ankle joint made a smooth gait by 3D motion analysis.