An IMU Based Real-Time Monitoring System for Powered Robotic Knee Exoskeleton

Real-time gait analysis is an important reference for an exoskeleton control system. Gait state can be utilized for the control system’s parameter adjustment and optimization. We introduced a method by using Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) to measure the gait motion of human when wearing a knee exoskeleton. In the measurement method, based on the body size and the real-time data of the IMU, the measurement system can generate the state data such as walking speed, step height, step stride and slope. We verified the performance of this system through the use of the exoskeleton system by 15 people during the tests the exoskeleton is unpowered. The experiment results show the accuracy achieve 93\(\%\) which presents the proposed method that can monitor the real-time gait in a relatively accurate range, which may provide a reliable reference for the exoskeleton control system.