  Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease that affects
motor and non-motor symptoms. Postural instability and freezing of gait (FOG)
are considered motor symptoms of PD resulting in falling. In this study, we
investigated the effect of simultaneous use of a robotic walker and a pneumatic
walking assist device (PWAD) for PD patients on gait features. The pneumatic
actuated artificial muscle on the leg and actuators on the walker produce
mutual induced stimulation, allowing the user to suppress FOG and maintain a
stable gait pattern while walking. The performance of the proposed system was
evaluated by conducting an 8 [m] straight-line walking task by a healthy
subject with (a) RW (robotic walker), (b) simultaneous use of an RW and a PWAD,
and some gait features for each condition were analyzed. The increasing stride
length and decreasing stance phase duration in the gait cycle suggest that
simultaneous use of a robotic walker and a pneumatic walking assist device
would effectively decrease FOG and maintain a stable gait pattern for PD
patients.
