Ambulatory disabilities affects approximately 30.6 million people in the US over the age of 15 according to the 2010 US Census. Of these 30.6 million, about 10.8 million have the ability to walk a quarter mile continuously, but find it difficult doing so. The goals of this project were to design a device to be used therapeutically in order to help re-learn walking motions, to strengthen muscles, or to assist in everyday life. The device was also designed to be used with virtual reality (VR) systems to offer a source of physical input and feedback. To accomplish this task, our team built a wearable leg actuation assisting apparatus that outputs a minimum of ten percent of the average adult’s joint moments and is combinable to a VR system to fully engulf the user into a gaming environment.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• Ruotolo, Steven Dean
• Benson, Nicholas Earle

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• E-project-042816-104522

Advisor

• Cobb, Eben C.
• Popovic, Marko B.

Year

• 2016

Date created

• 2016-04-28

Resource type

• Major Qualifying Project

Major

• Mechanical Engineering
• Interdisciplinary

Rights statement

• In Copyright