Design and Experiment of a Compact Intelligent Mobile Rehabilitation Exoskeleton Robot for Children with Cerebral Palsy Aged 3 to 6 Years

Early rehabilitation is crucial for children with cerebral palsy. However, most existing pediatric rehabilitation robots are designed for older children and are not sufficiently compact and integrated to accommodate the small limb sizes of younger children. This study proposes a novel children's mobile exoskeleton robot (ChMER) with a more compact structure to meet the ground gait training needs of younger children aged 3 - 6 years. The overall design of the robot is proposed based on an analysis of the rehabilitation requirements. An active body weight support system is integrated to regulate the weight support force during training. An exoskeleton with active degrees of freedom at the hip, knee, and ankle is also integrated to help the children walk. A three-level control structure is designed to satisfy the system's real-time safety requirements. The robot ground self-walking experimental results show that the intelligent rehabilitation exoskeleton robot can walk safely with high stability and compliance, promising to help children with cerebral palsy recover their natural gait.