MINISTRY OF RESEARCH ANDINNOVATION

Mechatronic System for Vertical Alternative Swinging of the Pelvic GirdlePatent A00852/2015 - BOPI no. 7/2016

Petre Lucian SEICIU1, Ioan Dan FILIPOIU1, Mihai BERTEANU2, Ileana CIOBANU2, Horia ȘERBU3, Ion MANOLE3, Florian BADEA3, Valentin BARBU3, Mihai IONEL4, Șerban-Marius MANOLACHE4

1UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA DIN BUCUREȘTI; 2SPITALUL UNIVERSITAR DE URGENȚĂ ELIAS; 3S.C. TEHNOMET S.A.; 4S.C. CORNERPROD S.R.L.

Figure 1. VAS design1 – rotating carriage; 2 – cog belt transmission; 3 – rotating geared

motor; 4 – hip displacement geared motor; 5 – vertical displacement

geared motor; 6 – drum; 7 – holed disc; 8 – roller; 9 – left suspension

cable; 10 – right suspension cable.

Figure 2. VAS during the implementation1 – carriage rotating system; 2 – vertical movement system; 3 – hip

vertical movement system; 4 – body weight suspending system

(upper).

Description

The vertical movement is achieved through alternative lift and descent

of the hip sides, similar to physiological gate.

The hip vertical trip will be personalized according to one’s

anthropometric parameters, the pathologic condition, the functional

rest and the objectives of each rehabilitation program stage.

VAS is endowed with a rotation mechanism around the vertical axis.

The holed disc rotates with an angular speed of 1 rotation/double step,

in order to obtain the vertical hip movement.

Considering that the patient is positioned with the back, the roller

pushes against the left cable (as shown in figure 1) so that the left hip

is lifted during the upper-left quarter of the disc and according with

the rotation direction. While the roller rotates counterclockwise for

the next quadrants:

• 0-90 – left hip lifts up;

• 90-180 – left hip descends;

• 180-270 – right hip lifts up;

• 270-360 – right hip descends.

Results

Figure 3 presents the vertical left hip displacement while the holed

disc rotates with 180. During this period, the right hip is not actuated.

Through the other half of the rotation (180 ÷360), the left hip is

paused while the right hip moves up and down on a similar path.

Table 1 shows a comparison for the maximum displacement of the

Center of Mass (COM) data between VAS and the experimental

international published data.

Table 1. Comparative COM displacement

Table 2 presents another set of data for the COM displacement,

obtained using a second roller with a 5 mm eccentricity.

Table 2. COM displacement

The system has a set of 5 rollers, so as to cover the whole domain.

Contact person: Petre Lucian SEICIU

lucian.seiciu@as.info.ro

Innovative Characteristics

The Mechatronic System for Vertical Alternative Swinging

of the Pelvic Girdle (VAS):

• Simulates the natural alternate hip vertical movement;

• Highly versatile; it adapts both to the physical and

physiological patients characteristics and to any recovery session

request (gait speed, vertical displacement, foot load etc.);

• Controlled rotation of the patient’s body along the vertical

axis, with feed-back;

• Easily adapted to any recovery system (mechatronic or

robotic) with or without TM;

• Simple and robust construction.

Introduction

There are many neurological and traumatic conditions generating gait

related disabilities. The rehabilitation intervention aimed to prevent

or/and reduce the involved deficits must encompass a large area of

static and dynamic functional aspects.

Lately, the work of the physical therapists is enhanced by new

technology.

The new devices and systems for gait rehabilitation ensure an intense,

reproducible, assisted-as-needed training in safe environment, but

different approaches concerning the walking environment, the focus

of the support elements, the structural configuration of the system and

the supported degrees of freedom produce different results in terms of

functional gains.

Goals

1. VAS is a complex system for environmental over ground

rehabilitation.

2. VAS is aimed to provide a complete whole person training for

rehabilitation in central neurological conditions.

3. VAS ensures the correct posture of the patient while walking

and is able to direct and control the hip alternating side vertical

movement during walking.

4. VAS solves the problems of achievement, impulsion and

assisting the vertical up and down hip movements during the gate

cycle in order to obtain a physiological gate with the COM trajectory

within normal gate.

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority

for Scientific Research, CNDI – UEFISCDI, project number

190/2012.

This work is sustained by the Sectorial Operational Program - Human

Resources Development (POS DRU), project co-financed by the

European Social Fund and by the Government of Romania under the

agreement no. POSDRU/159/1.5/S/137390

Roller Position1st

Position

4th

Position

VAS COM displacement, mm 11.5 72.5

COM displacement reported in

literature, mm20÷70

Eccentric Roller

Position1 2 3 4

VAS COM

displacement, mm9÷14 30÷35 55÷60 70÷75

Figure 3. Experimental data

0

30

60

90

120

150

180

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

Ve

rtic

al H

ip D

isp

lace

me

nt

[mm

]

Roller Angular Position α [º]

4th Position

3rd Position

2nd Position

1st Position