The wearable cyborg Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) is a therapeutic exoskeletal device that provides voluntary gait assistance using kinematic/kinetic gait data and bioelectrical signals. By utilizing the gait data automatically measured by HAL, we are developing a system to analyze the wearer's gait during the intervention, unlike conventional evaluations that compare pre- and post-treatment gait test results. Despite the potential use of the gait data from the HAL's sensor information, there is still a lack of analysis using such gait data and knowledge of gait patterns during HAL use. This study aimed to cluster gait patterns into subgroups based on the gait data that the HAL automatically collected during treatment and to investigate their characteristics.
Gait data acquired by HAL, including ground reaction forces, joint angles, trunk angles, and HAL joint torques, were analyzed in individuals with progressive neuromuscular diseases. For each measured item, principal component analysis was applied to the gait time-series data to extract the features of the gait patterns, followed by hierarchical cluster analysis to generate subgroups based on the principal component scores. Bayesian regression analysis was conducted to identify the influence of the wearer's attributes on the clustered gait patterns.
The gait patterns of 13,710 gait cycles from 457 treatments among 48 individuals were divided into 5–10 clusters for each measured item. The clusters revealed a variety of gait patterns when wearing the HAL and identified the characteristics of multiple sub-group types. Bayesian regression models explained the influence of the wearer's disease type and gait ability on the distribution of gait patterns to subgroups.
These results revealed key differences in gait patterns related to the wearer's condition, demonstrating the importance of monitoring HAL-assisted walking to provide appropriate interventions. Furthermore, our approach highlights the usefulness of the gait data that HAL automatically measures during the intervention. We anticipate that the HAL, designed as a therapeutic device, will expand its role as a data measurement device for analysis and evaluation that provides gait data simultaneously with interventions, creating a novel cybernics treatment system that facilitates a multi-faceted understanding of the wearer's gait.