Development of Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFO) Using Pneumatic Artificial Muscle for Disabled Children

¹ Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia
² Department of Bioscience and Engineering, College of System Engineering and Science, Shibaura Institute of Technology, 3308570 Saitama, Japan
³ Deparment of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

^a Corresponding author: mshahrol@unimas.my

Abstract

Ankle foot orthosis (AFO) are commonly used to correct the instabilities and joint weakness of lower limb. In this research, AFO was developed by using pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM) to prevent plantarflexion to occur and also to correct the foot from the inversion syndrome. The research started with designing the AFO by using SolidWorks software based on anthropometry measurement data (n=5, age=12 years old). The mechanical simulation was conducted by using Autodesk Inventor software to obtain a safety factor before the fabrication process was conducted. The AFO was fabricated using 3D printer and the thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) rubber was selected as the material. PAM was tested by using test bed machine to generate the force and contraction by muscle. The result shows that the PAM was suitable for low speed as the displacement was greater. The AFO could be valuable for the gait rehabilitation.