Smart walkers are commonly used as potential gait assistance devices, to provide physical and cognitive assistance within rehabilitation and clinical scenarios. To understand such rehabilitation processes, several biomechanical studies have been conducted to assess human gait with passive and active walkers. Several sessions were conducted with 11 healthy volunteers to assess three interaction strategies based on passive, low and high mechanical stiffness values on the AGoRA Smart Walker. The trials were carried out in a motion analysis laboratory. Kinematic data were also collected from the smart walker sensory interface. The interaction force between users and the device was recorded. The force required under passive and low stiffness modes was $56.66\%$ and $67.48\%$ smaller than the high stiffness mode, respectively. An increase of $17.03\%$ for the hip range of motion, as well as the highest trunk’s inclination, were obtained under the resistive mode, suggesting a compensating motion to exert a higher impulse force on the device. Kinematic and physical interaction data suggested that the high stiffness mode significantly affected the users’ gait pattern. Results suggested that users compensated their kinematics, tilting their trunk and lower limbs to exert higher impulse forces on the device.

中文翻译：

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基于虚拟机械刚度的策略

智能助行器通常用作潜在的步态辅助设备，在康复和临床场景中提供身体和认知辅助。为了了解这种康复过程，已经进行了几项生物力学研究来评估被动和主动步行者的人类步态。与 11 名健康志愿者进行了几次会议，以评估基于 AGoRA Smart Walker 上的被动、低和高机械刚度值的三种交互策略。试验在运动分析实验室进行。运动学数据也从智能步行者感官界面收集。记录用户与设备之间的交互力。被动和低刚度模式下所需的力为$56.66\%$和$67.48\%$分别小于高刚度模式。增加$17.03\%$在阻力模式下获得了髋关节运动范围以及最高躯干倾斜度，这表明补偿运动可以在设备上施加更高的冲力。运动学和物理交互数据表明，高刚度模式显着影响了用户的步态模式。结果表明，用户可以补偿他们的运动学，倾斜他们的躯干和下肢以在设备上施加更高的冲力。