Project Gaitway

Wearable Stroke Rehabilitation Exoskeleton integrating sensing, motor assistance, and balance correction systems.

LinkedIn Showcase

Project Gaitway was publicly showcased after the final presentation and engineering demo.

Overview

Project Gaitway is a wearable assistive exoskeleton system designed to help stroke patients improve mobility, gait propagation, and balance while reducing the risk of falls.

The project combines both physical and neurological rehabilitation methods through a modular exoskeleton platform integrating real-time sensing, motorized gait assistance, and Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (GVS).

Developed within approximately 5 weeks under SUTD’s Engineering for Good programme, the prototype was later awarded Top Course Project during the final showcase.

“How might we help stroke patients maintain balance while walking or standing to reduce the risk of falls?”

System Architecture

The project consists of three integrated subsystems working together as a single assistive platform:

Sensor + Control System
Motor / Mechanical Exoskeleton System
Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (GVS) System

Sensing + Embedded Control

The sensing architecture uses BNO055 IMUs mounted on the waist and legs to estimate gait movement, body orientation, and instability in real time.

ESP32 microcontrollers were used for sensor reading, gait phase detection, subsystem communication, motor triggering, and balance correction logic.

The gait detection pipeline used movement thresholds, pitch-rate calculations, and orientation comparisons between multiple IMUs to identify walking states and instability conditions.

Mechanical Exoskeleton System

The exoskeleton subsystem focused on smoother gait propagation, biomechanical alignment, and wearable modularity.

NEMA 23 stepper motors
Capstan drive systems
Belt-driven transmission
Gear reduction systems

A capstan-based design approach was selected to reduce backlash, preserve torque, improve smoothness, and remain manufacturable within budget constraints.

Balance Correction using GVS

The project also explored Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (GVS) for neurological balance correction.

Using body tilt data from IMUs, the system could trigger controlled vestibular stimulation to assist with balance correction during walking.

Modified Howland Current Pump architecture
Bipolar stimulation control
Stable current regulation
Real-time left/right balance correction triggering

Focus Areas

Embedded systems
ESP32 development
Sensor fusion
Motor control systems
IMU sensing
UART + I2C communication
Hardware-software integration
Wearable robotics
Rehabilitation engineering
Rapid prototyping

Long-Term Vision

The long-term goal of Project Gaitway is to create a modular, affordable, and clinically useful rehabilitation platform that helps stroke patients regain mobility, balance, confidence, and independence in everyday life.