Difficulty in walking is a major feature of neurologi
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cal disease, and loss of mobility is the activity of daily
living on which patients place the greatest value. The
impact on patients is enormous, with negative ramifi
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cations on their participation in social, vocational, and
recreational activities. In current clinical practice the
gait restoration with robotic device is an integral part
of rehabilitation program. Robot therapy involves the
use of a robot exoskeleton device or end-effector de-
vice to help the patient retrain motor coordination by
performing well-focused and carefully directed repeti
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tive practice. The exoskeleton, as an assistive device,
is also an external structural mechanism with joints
and links corresponding to those of the human body.
These robots use joint trajectories of the entire gait
cycle and offer a uniform (more or less) stiff control
along this trajectory. In this field the new powered
exoskeleton ReWalk (Argo Medical Technologies Ltd)
was developed to have an alternative mobility solu
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tion to the wheelchair and rehabilitation treatment
for individuals with severe walking impairments, ena
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bling them to stand, walk, ascend/descent stairs and
more. The end-effector-based robot is a device with
footplates placed on a double crank and rocker gear
system. Alternatives to powered exoskeletons are de
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vices that use movable footplates to which the pa
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tient’s feet are attached. All devices include some form
of body weight support. Prominent goals in the field
include: developing implementable technologies that
can be easily used by patients, therapists, and clini
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cians; enhancing the efficacy of clinician’s therapies
and increasing the ease of activities in the daily lives
of patients.