JP4092322B2 - Walking assist device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a walking assistance device that assists walking by swinging a user's lower leg part around a knee joint by a knee joint actuator.

A first link 18 fixed to the side surface of the abdominal band 14 wound around the user's abdomen and a second link 20 fixed to the side surfaces of the upper leg rests 15f, 15r wound around the user's thigh are provided outside the hip joint. A walking assist device that assists the movement of the thigh of the user by connecting the second link 20 in the front-rear direction with respect to the first link 18 by the electric actuator 12 that is connected to the electric actuator 12. This is known from Patent Document 1 below.
JP 2002-301124 A

  FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a human knee joint, where reference numeral 01 indicates a femur and reference numeral 02 indicates a tibia. The upper end of the tibia 02 is substantially flat, and the lower end of the femur 01 in contact therewith is curved in an arc shape. For example, when the knee joint is bent to sit on a chair, the femur 01 swings 90 ° backward with respect to the tibia 02. It is known that the lower end of the bone 01 is mainly in rolling contact, and the lower end of the femur 01 is mainly in sliding contact with the upper end of the tibia 02 in the later stage of the swing. Therefore, the rolling contact of the tibia 02 and the femur 01 accompanying the flexion of the knee joint causes the lower part of the femur to move backward with respect to the tibia 02 by the distance X. For the same reason as described above, for example, when the knee joint is bent in order to kick the lower knee backward, the upper part of the tibia 02 is rearward with respect to the femur 01 by a distance X as shown in FIG. Will move.

  In this way, the knee joint has a unique movement different from that of a simple pin joint. However, the conventional walking aid device has a thigh brace and a lower leg brace supported by a simple pin joint. There was a problem that the thigh orthosis and the lower thigh orthosis could not follow the movement of the user, and the user's skin was rubbed and felt uncomfortable.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to prevent the thigh brace and the lower leg brace from being rubbed against the user's skin when the knee joint is bent and stretched.

To achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a thigh brace worn along the user's thigh and a lower leg brace worn along the user's lower leg. And a knee joint actuator arranged on the side of the knee joint to relatively swing the thigh orthosis and the lower leg orthosis, and a knee joint actuator housing is provided at the lower end of the thigh frame constituting the skeleton of the thigh orthosis is fixed, the rotor of the upper end to the knee joint actuator of the crus frame constituting the skeleton of the lower leg brace and connected through a driving force transmission mechanism, before Symbol driving force transmission mechanism, thigh lower end due to the bending of the knee joint and so as to follow the relative movement in the longitudinal direction of the lower leg upper end, the walking assist device Ru are relatively moved in the longitudinal direction of the upper end of the lower end and the crus frame of the thigh frame, the driving force transmission mechanism, A thigh-side gear fixed to the lower end of the thigh frame; and a thigh-side gear fixed to the upper end of the thigh frame and meshing with the thigh-side gear. The rotor of the knee joint actuator drives the thigh-side gear to drive the thigh A walking assistance device is proposed that revolves while rotating around the side gear.

According to the invention described in claim 2 , a thigh brace that is worn along the user's thigh, a lower leg brace that is worn along the user's lower leg, a thigh brace, and a lower leg brace. A knee joint actuator disposed on the side of the knee joint to relatively swing back and forth, and a knee joint actuator housing is fixed to the lower end of the thigh frame constituting the skeleton of the thigh brace. linked via the upper end to the knee joint actuator of the rotor the driving force transmission mechanism of the crus frame constituting the skeleton, pre Symbol driving force transmission mechanism of the thigh lower end crus upper end due to the bending of the knee joint so as to follow the relative movement in the longitudinal direction, at the lower end and walking assist device Ru are relatively moved in the longitudinal direction of the upper end of the crus frame of the thigh frame, the driving force transmission mechanism, solid to the lower end of the thigh frame Ring gear, a sun gear fixed to the rotor of the knee joint actuator sharing the center with the ring gear, a planetary gear meshing with the sun gear and the ring gear, and the planetary gear rotatably supported around the sun gear and pivotally supporting the upper end of the lower leg frame A walking assist device is proposed which is a planetary gear mechanism including a planetary carrier.

According to the invention described in claim 3 , a thigh brace that is worn along the user's thigh, a lower leg brace that is worn along the user's lower leg, a thigh brace, and a lower leg brace. A knee joint actuator disposed on the side of the knee joint to relatively swing back and forth, and a knee joint actuator housing is fixed to the lower end of the thigh frame constituting the skeleton of the thigh brace. linked via the upper end to the knee joint actuator of the rotor the driving force transmission mechanism of the crus frame constituting the skeleton, pre Symbol driving force transmission mechanism of the thigh lower end crus upper end due to the bending of the knee joint so as to follow the relative movement in the longitudinal direction, the walking assist device Ru are relatively moved in the longitudinal direction of the upper end of the lower end and the crus frame of the thigh frame, the knee joint actuator rotor and the crus frame A driving force transmission mechanism that is fixed to the end, the rotation axis of the rotor of the knee joint actuator is located below the knee joint, and the lower leg frame is pivotally supported at the upper end by the thigh orthosis A device is proposed.

According to the configuration of the first to third aspects, the lower end of the thigh frame fixed to the housing of the knee joint actuator and the upper end of the lower leg frame connected to the rotor of the knee joint actuator via the driving force transmission mechanism are connected to the thigh. As the frame and lower leg frame are flexed and extended relative to each other in the front-rear direction, the thigh orthosis and lower leg orthosis can follow the relative movement in the front-rear direction between the lower end of the thigh and the upper end of the lower leg as the knee joint bends and stretches. It is possible to suppress the thigh brace and the lower leg brace from rubbing against the user's skin and giving a sense of incongruity.

In particular , according to the configuration of the first aspect , the driving force transmission mechanism is configured by meshing the thigh side gear fixed to the lower end of the thigh frame and the crus side gear fixed to the upper end of the lower thigh frame. By driving the lower leg side gear with the rotor and revolving while rotating around the thigh side gear, the thigh frame and the lower leg frame can be relatively moved in the front-rear direction as the knee joint bends and stretches.

In particular , according to the configuration of claim 2 , the ring gear fixed to the lower end of the thigh frame, the sun gear fixed to the rotor of the knee joint actuator sharing the center with the ring gear, the planetary gear meshing with the sun gear and the ring gear, and the planetary gear around the sun gear The driving force transmission mechanism is composed of a planetary carrier that is rotatably supported by the robot, and the upper end of the lower leg frame is pivotally supported by the planetary carrier. Therefore, the upper end of the lower leg frame is moved by rotating the planetary carrier with the rotor of the knee joint actuator. Thus, the thigh frame and the lower leg frame can be relatively moved in the front-rear direction as the knee joint bends and stretches.

In particular , according to the third aspect of the present invention, the rotation shaft of the rotor of the knee joint actuator is disposed below the knee joint, and the lower leg frame is pivotally supported on the thigh brace at the upper end. The driving force transmission mechanism with a simple structure that is simply fixed to the upper end of the knee can absorb the relative movement in the front-rear direction between the lower end of the thigh and the upper end of the crus as the knee joint bends and stretches.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on examples of the present invention shown in the accompanying drawings.

  1 to 8 show a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a walking assist device, FIG. 2 is a view in two directions in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a three direction arrow in FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of part 4 of FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 4, FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. FIG. 8 is a perspective view and FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, a walking assistance device that is attached to a user's left and right legs and assists walking includes a waist brace 11 that is worn so as to surround both the left and right sides and the rear of the user's waist. The left and right thigh braces 12, 12 are pivotally supported at both left and right ends of the waist brace 11 so as to be swingable back and forth, and are fitted along the outer surfaces of the left and right thighs of the user, and the left and right thigh braces 12, The left and right lower leg braces 13 and 13 that are pivotally supported by the lower end of 12 and mounted along the outer side surfaces of the left and right lower leg portions of the user, and the left and right lower leg braces 13 and 13 Leg frames 15 and 15 that are pivotally supported so as to be swingable back and forth through fulcrum pins 14 and. The foot frames 15, 15 are fixed to shoes worn by the user.

  The waist orthosis 11 includes a U-shaped waist frame 16 that is open frontward, a back plate 17 that is erected on the rear surface along the back of the user, and a back that is supported by the rear surface of the back plate plate 17. The battery pack 18 and the control device are housed inside the backpack 18. Housings 19a and 19a of hip joint actuators 19 and 19 having a short cylindrical shape are fixed to arcuate actuator mounting portions 16a and 16a provided at the left and right front ends of the waist frame 16, respectively.

  A thigh frame 21 constituting the skeleton of the thigh orthosis 12 includes a center frame 22 made of a pipe material having a rectangular cross section, an upper frame 23 that is slidably fitted to the upper inner surface of the center frame 22, and a lower end of the center frame 22. A lower frame 24 is provided on the inner surface so as to be slidable up and down, and the length can be adjusted according to the physique of the user.

  A thigh coupling member 27 is rotatably supported via a support shaft 26 by a slider 25 slidably fitted to a guide rail 22 a fixed along the inner surface of the central frame 22. The thigh coupling member 27 includes a U-shaped first thigh coupling portion 28 and a second thigh coupling portion 29 that are elastically engaged with a user's thigh.

  The lower end of the connecting member 31 connected to the rotor 19b of the hip joint actuator 19 via the output member 30 is bifurcated, and the upper end of the upper frame 23 swings left and right via an upper fulcrum pin 32 extending in the front-rear direction. It is supported freely. Further, the lower end of the lower frame 24 is pivotally supported by the upper end of the connecting member 33 and a lower fulcrum pin 34 extending in the front-rear direction so as to be swingable in the left-right direction.

  The crus frame 41 constituting the skeleton of the crus orthosis 13 has substantially the same structure as the thigh frame 21 of the thigh brace 12, and includes a central frame 42 made of a pipe material having a rectangular cross section, and an upper end inner surface of the central frame 42. And an upper frame 43 that fits slidably up and down, and a lower frame 44 that fits slidably up and down on the inner surface of the lower end of the center frame 42 and adjusts the length according to the physique of the user. be able to. A connecting member 46 is pivotally supported at the upper end of the upper frame 43 via an upper fulcrum pin 45 extending in the front-rear direction, and the output member 47 is fixed to the upper end of the connecting member 46. A connecting member 49 that supports the foot frame 15 is pivotally supported at the lower end of the lower frame 54 of the lower leg frame 41 via a lower fulcrum pin 48 extending in the front-rear direction so as to be able to swing left and right.

  The housing 51 a of the short cylindrical knee joint actuator 51 is fixed to the actuator mounting bracket 50 fixed to the connecting member 33. The rotor 51b of the knee joint actuator 51 is connected to the output member 47 of the crus frame 41 via a driving force transmission mechanism 52 described in detail later.

  As is clear from FIG. 3, the thigh frame 21 includes a central frame 22, an upper frame 23, a lower frame 24, a connecting member 31, a connecting member 33, and an actuator mounting bracket 50. The lower leg frame 41 includes a central frame 42, an upper frame 43, a lower frame 44, a connecting member 46, an output member 47 and a connecting member 49.

  Next, the structure of the driving force transmission mechanism 52 that transmits the driving force of the rotor 51b of the knee joint actuator 51 to the lower leg brace 13 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The thigh side gear 61 that is a sector gear formed at the lower end of the actuator mounting bracket 50 that is the lowermost member of the thigh frame 21 and the lower leg that is the sector gear formed at the upper end of the output member 47 that is the uppermost member of the lower leg frame 41. The side gear 62 meshes. The outer race of the ball bearing 63 is fitted into the bearing support hole 61a formed at the center of the thigh-side gear 61, and the collar 64 is fitted into the inner race. Similarly, the outer race of the ball bearing 65 is fitted into the bearing support hole 62a formed at the center of the crus side gear 62, and the collar 66 is fitted into the inner race. The rotor 51b of the knee joint actuator 51 in which the housing 51a is fixed to the actuator mounting bracket 50 with bolts 67... Is arranged so that the axis L1 of the rotation axis thereof coincides with the center of the thigh side gear 61.

  The stopper 50a provided at the lower end of the actuator mounting bracket 50 and the stopper 47a provided at the upper end of the output member 47 are opposed to each other so that they can come into contact with each other, and when the thigh frame 21 and the crus frame 41 extend in a straight line, that is, When the knee joint is extended, the two stoppers 50a and 47a come into contact with each other to prevent the lower leg frame 41 from bending forward with respect to the thigh frame 21.

  The connecting plate 68 for maintaining the positional relationship between the thigh-side gear 61 and the crus-side gear 62 is provided with four bolt holes 68a to 68d, and the bolt 69 passing through the bolt hole 68a of the connecting plate 68 is a ball bearing. 63 and the collar 64 are fastened to the bolt hole 51c of the rotor 51b, and the bolt 70 that penetrates the bolt hole 68b of the connecting plate 68 penetrates the ball bearing 65 and the collar 66, and the bolt hole 51d of the rotor 51b. To be concluded. The two bolts 71 and 72 pass through the two collars 73 and 74 and are fastened to the bolt holes 51e and 51f of the rotor 51b, respectively.

  The rotor 51b is fixed to the rotating portion inside the knee joint actuator 51 by the bolt 70 and the three bolts 75 arranged at intervals of 90 °.

  Next, the operation of the first embodiment having the above configuration will be described.

  When the hip joint actuators 19 and 19 are actuated while the user is wearing the walking assist device, the left and right thigh orthoses 12 and 12 are alternately swung back and forth with a predetermined period, and the knee joint actuator 51 and When 51 is actuated, the left and right lower leg braces 13, 13 are alternately swung back and forth with a predetermined period with respect to the upper leg braces 12, 12, thereby assisting the user to walk.

  When the knee joint is bent by the knee joint actuator 51 and the driving force transmission mechanism 52 and the lower leg is kicked backward relative to the thigh, the knee joint actuator 51 fixed to the thigh frame 21 is driven. When the rotor 51b is rotated, the center L2 of the crus gear 62 is moved in an arc around the center of the thigh gear 61 (that is, the axis L1 of the rotor 51b) by the bolts 70 screwed into the rotor 51b.

  At this time, the center L2 of the crus gear 62 that meshes with the fixed thigh gear 61 moves around the bolt 70, so that the crus frame 41 is moved relative to the thigh frame 21 as shown in FIG. By swinging 90 ° backward from the chain line position to the solid line position and moving the position of the center L2 of the crus side gear 62 backward by the distance X, the displacement X when the knee joint shown in FIG. As a result, the thigh brace 12 and the lower thigh brace 13 can be prevented from rubbing against the user's skin and giving a sense of incongruity.

  Further, when the knee joint is bent and the thigh is folded backward with respect to the lower leg and the chair is seated on the chair, the thigh frame 21 is located at the chain line position with respect to the lower leg frame 41 as shown in FIG. Will swing 90 ° backward from the position to the solid line position. At this time, the operation of the knee joint actuator 51 and the driving force transmission mechanism 52 is exactly the same as the case where the lower leg is bent backward with respect to the above-described thigh. In this case, by moving the position of the center L1 of the thigh-side gear 61 backward by the distance X, the displacement X when the knee joint shown in FIG. 13 is bent can be absorbed. Thereby, it can suppress that the thigh brace 12 and the lower leg brace 13 rub against a user's skin, and give an uncomfortable feeling.

  As is clear from FIG. 8, when the knee joint actuator 51 is operated, if the rotor 51b rotates 45 ° relative to the housing 51a, the thigh frame 21 and the lower leg frame 41 rotate relatively 90 °. That is, the ratio of the rotational speed of the thigh frame 21 or the lower leg frame to the rotational speed of the rotor 51b is a double speed increase ratio.

  9 to 11 show a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a front view of the driving force transmission mechanism, FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along line 10-10 of FIG. 9, and FIG. is there.

  The driving force transmission mechanism 52 of the second embodiment uses a planetary gear mechanism, and the housing 51a of the knee joint actuator 51 is fixed to the lower end of the connecting member 33 of the thigh frame 21 with bolts 67 ... via the actuator mounting bracket 50. At the same time, the ring gear 81 sharing the axis L1 with the knee joint actuator 51 is fixed to the housing 51a of the knee joint actuator 51 with bolts 82. A sun gear 83 is spline-coupled to the rotor 51 b of the knee joint actuator 51, and one planetary gear 84 meshes with the ring gear 81 and the sun gear 83. Both ends of the planetary carrier 85 are pivotally supported by the center of the rotor 51 b and the planetary gear shaft 86, and the upper end of the output member 47 of the crus frame 41 is pivotally supported by the planetary gear shaft 86.

  Therefore, when the knee joint is bent by the knee joint actuator 51 and the driving force transmission mechanism 52 and the lower leg is kicked backward with respect to the thigh, as shown in FIG. When the rotor 51b rotates in the direction of arrow A with respect to the housing 51a of 51, the planetary gear 84 revolves in the direction of arrow C while rotating in the direction of arrow B, and the axis L2 of the planetary gear 84 is 90 ° about the axis L1 of the sun gear 83. By rotating and moving backward by the distance X, the displacement X when the knee joint shown in FIG. 14 is bent can be absorbed.

  At this time, the output member 47 of the crus frame 41 is in a state of being freely rotatable with respect to the planetary gear shaft 86. However, when the user wears the thigh brace 12 and the crus brace 13, the crus brace 13 is under the user's lower side. Since it is fixed to the thigh, the axis L2 of the planetary gear 84, that is, the upper end of the lower leg frame 41 moves rearward, so that the lower leg frame 41 swings 90 ° rearward with respect to the thigh frame 21, and the user's It is possible to assist the operation of kicking the lower leg part backward.

  Further, when the knee joint is bent and the thigh is folded backward with respect to the lower leg and the chair is seated on the chair, the thigh frame 21 is located at the chain line position with respect to the lower leg frame 41 as shown in FIG. Will swing 90 ° backward from the position to the solid line position. At this time, the operation of the knee joint actuator 51 and the driving force transmission mechanism 52 is exactly the same as the case where the lower leg is bent backward with respect to the above-described thigh. Then, the center L1 of the sun gear 83 moves rearward by the distance X with respect to the center L2 of the planetary gear 84, so that the displacement X when the knee joint shown in FIG. 13 is bent can be absorbed.

  Also at this time, the axis L1 of the sun gear 83, that is, the lower end of the thigh frame 21 moves rearward, so that the lower leg frame 41 swings 90 ° rearward with respect to the thigh frame 21, and the user's thigh is rearwardly moved. It is possible to assist the bending operation.

In this embodiment, since the number of teeth of the sun gear 83 and the number of teeth of the planetary gear 84 are set to be the same, the sun gear 83 rotates 225 ° when the planetary carrier 85 rotates 90 ° due to the characteristics of the planetary gear mechanism.
Thus, in the second embodiment, since the driving force transmission mechanism 52 has a reduction ratio of 2.5 times, the knee joint actuator 51 having a small torque can be used.

  Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 12, symbol a and symbol b indicate the position of the knee joint and the hip joint of the user in the standing state, respectively. When the user bends from this state, the position b of the hip joint is described with reference to FIG. Due to the structure of the knee joint, it moves to a point b ″ behind the original point b ′ by a distance X.

  In the third embodiment, the position of the pivot portion between the lower end of the thigh frame 21 and the upper end of the crus frame 41 (that is, the position of the knee joint actuator 51) is a lower than the position a of the user's knee joint by a distance Y. The upper end of the thigh frame 21 is swingable back and forth by the hip joint actuator 19 with respect to the thigh orthosis 12. The structure of the driving force transmission mechanism 52 is simple. The housing 51a of the knee joint actuator 51 is fixed to the lower end of the thigh frame 21, and the rotor 51b of the knee joint actuator 51 is fixed to the upper end of the crus frame 41.

  Thus, when the knee joint actuator 51 is driven to swing the thigh frame 21 backward about the point a ′ with respect to the crus frame 41, the position of the hip joint moves from b to b ″ and depends on the structure of the knee joint. The distance X, which is the amount of displacement, can be absorbed, and at this time, the thigh frame 21 needs to swing by the angle θ with respect to the thigh orthosis 12, and this angle θ can be easily controlled by the hip joint actuator 19. Can be generated.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various design changes can be made without departing from the present invention described in the claims. It is.

  For example, although the walking assist device of the embodiment has been described as being used when assisting walking, the user may use it to increase leg strength when lifting a heavy object.

  In the second embodiment, the upper end of the lower leg frame 41 is pivotally supported by the planetary carrier 85 on the center L2 of the planetary gear 84. However, the upper end of the lower leg frame 41 can be pivotally supported at an arbitrary position of the planetary carrier 85. .

Overall perspective view of walking assist device 2 direction view of FIG. 3 direction arrow view of FIG. 4 enlarged view of FIG. Sectional view along line 5-5 in FIG. 6-6 arrow view of FIG. Exploded perspective view of driving force transmission mechanism Illustration of action Front view of the driving force transmission mechanism according to the second embodiment Sectional view taken along line 10-10 in FIG. Illustration of action Overall side view of walking assist device according to third embodiment The figure which shows the state which rocked the femur back with respect to the tibia The figure which shows the state which rocked the tibia backward with respect to the femur

Explanation of symbols

12 thigh brace 13 lower leg brace 21 thigh frame 41 lower leg frame 51 knee joint actuator 51a housing 51b rotor 52 driving force transmission mechanism 61 thigh side gear 62 lower leg side gear 81 ring gear 83 sun gear 84 planetary gear 85 planetary carrier

Claims (3)

A thigh brace (12) to be worn along the user's thigh, a lower leg brace (13) to be worn along the user's lower leg, a thigh brace (12), and a lower thigh brace (13) A knee joint actuator (51) disposed on the side of the knee joint to relatively swing back and forth,
The housing (51a) of the knee joint actuator (51) is fixed to the lower end of the thigh frame (21) that constitutes the skeleton of the thigh brace (12), and the lower leg frame (41) that constitutes the skeleton of the crus orthosis (13). upper rotor (51b) of the knee joint actuator (51) connected via a driving force transmission mechanism (52), the front Symbol driving force transmission mechanism (52), thigh lower and lower due to the bending of the knee joint so as to follow the relative movement in the longitudinal direction of the thigh upper, at the lower end and walking assist device Ru are relatively moved in the longitudinal direction of the upper end of the crus frame (41) of the thigh frame (21),
The driving force transmission mechanism (52) meshes with the thigh gear (61) fixed to the thigh side gear (61) fixed to the lower end of the thigh frame (21) and the upper end of the crus frame (41). A lower leg side gear (62), and the rotor (51b) of the knee joint actuator (51) drives the lower leg side gear (62) to revolve around the thigh side gear (61). A walking assist device. A thigh brace (12) to be worn along the user's thigh, a lower leg brace (13) to be worn along the user's lower leg, a thigh brace (12), and a lower thigh brace (13) A knee joint actuator (51) disposed on the side of the knee joint to relatively swing back and forth,
The housing (51a) of the knee joint actuator (51) is fixed to the lower end of the thigh frame (21) that constitutes the skeleton of the thigh brace (12), and the lower leg frame (41) that constitutes the skeleton of the crus orthosis (13). upper rotor (51b) of the knee joint actuator (51) connected via a driving force transmission mechanism (52), the front Symbol driving force transmission mechanism (52), thigh lower and lower due to the bending of the knee joint so as to follow the relative movement in the longitudinal direction of the thigh upper, at the lower end and walking assist device Ru are relatively moved in the longitudinal direction of the upper end of the crus frame (41) of the thigh frame (21),
The driving force transmission mechanism (52) is fixed to a ring gear (81) fixed to the lower end of the thigh frame (21) and a rotor (51b) of a knee joint actuator (51) sharing the center with the ring gear (81). The sun gear (83), the planetary gear (84) meshing with the sun gear (83) and the ring gear (81), and the planetary gear (84) are rotatably supported around the sun gear (83) and the upper end of the lower leg frame (41) is supported. A walking assist device comprising a planetary gear mechanism including a planetary carrier (85) pivotally supported . A thigh brace (12) to be worn along the user's thigh, a lower leg brace (13) to be worn along the user's lower leg, a thigh brace (12), and a lower thigh brace (13) A knee joint actuator (51) disposed on the side of the knee joint to relatively swing back and forth,
The housing (51a) of the knee joint actuator (51) is fixed to the lower end of the thigh frame (21) constituting the skeleton of the thigh brace (12), and the crus frame (41) constituting the skeleton of the thigh brace (13) is fixed. upper rotor (51b) of the knee joint actuator (51) connected via a driving force transmission mechanism (52), the front Symbol driving force transmission mechanism (52), thigh lower and lower due to the bending of the knee joint so as to follow the relative movement in the longitudinal direction of the thigh upper, at the lower end and walking assist device Ru are relatively moved in the longitudinal direction of the upper end of the crus frame (41) of the thigh frame (21),
The driving force transmission mechanism (52) is configured by fixing the rotor (51b) of the knee joint actuator (51) to the upper end of the crus frame (41), and the rotational axis of the rotor (51b) of the knee joint actuator (51) is set to the knee. A walking assistance device, characterized in that it is arranged below the joint and the upper frame (21) is pivotally supported on the thigh brace (12) at the upper end .

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