This paper describes the development of a gait rehabilitation system with a locomotion interface (LI) for training patients to climb stairs. The LI consists of two 2-DOF manipulators equipped with footpads. These can move the patient's feet while his or her body remains stationary. The footpads follow the prerecorded motion of the feet of healthy individuals. For gait training, the patient progresses sequentially through successively more advanced modes. In this study, two modes, the enforced climbing of stairs and interactive climbing of stairs, were developed. In the interactive mode, foot pressure sensors are used to realize interactive walking. Comparisons were made between the modes for healthy individuals and a patient. The effectiveness of the system was examined using electromyography (EMG) and foot pressure data.

This paper describes experiments regarding navigation performance using a new locomotion interface for walking through virtual space. Although traveling on foot is the most intuitive style of locomotion, proprioceptive feedback from walking is not provided in most applications of virtual environments. We developed an infinite surface driven by actuators for enabling a sense of walking. Torus-shaped surfaces are selected to realize the locomotion interface. The device employs twelve sets of treadmills, connected side by side and driven in perpendicular directions. The virtual infinite surface is generated by the motion of the treadmills. A walker can go in any direction while his/her position is fixed in the real world. The device is called a Torus Treadmill. Navigation performance was measured by path-reproduction tests. Subjects were immersed in a virtual grass-covered plain on which a cone-shaped target object was placed. The subjects first traveled to the target object. After they reached it, the target object disappeared and the rehomed subjects were asked to return to the place where the target object was placed. We also set two target objects, and the subject traveled along a bent path. We compared two locomotion modes: walking on the Torus Treadmill and moving purely by joystick operation. The results of the bent-path experiment showed that the accuracy of the path reproduction in the Torus Treadmill mode is better than that of joystick mode.