In this paper, we measured human body signals in order to verify a active harness system that we developed for gait and balance training. The experimental procedure
was validated by tests with 20 healthy male subjects. They conducted
3 types of experiments. The first experiment is treadmill walking without and with passive harness(30% of body weight support) at 1km/h, 2km/h and 3km/h respectively. The second experiment is treadmill walking without and with passive harness(30% of body weight support) at different velocities between left and right belt (every 1km/h interval circumstances from 1km/h to 3km/h) to reproduce hemiplegia gait. The last experiment is motions of Activities of Daily Living(ADL)(Normal Walking, Stand-to-Sit, Sit-to-Stand, Stair Walking Up, and Stair Walking Down) according to body weight support
rates (0%, 30%, 50% of subjects’ body weight).

The first experimental results show that the lateral and posterior foot pressure were decreased by 30% of body weight support. The activities of tibialis anterior and biceps femoris muscles were decreased. On the other hands, rectus femoris and lateral gastrocnemius muscles’ activities were increased.
By treadmill walking in different velocities between left and right belts, the hemiplegia gait were reproduced. The foot pressure and EMG results showed an imbalance between left and right legs. The muscles which are used for stance phase(RF, TA) were more activated in induced non-paralysis leg than induced paralysis leg. On the contrast, The induced non-paralysis leg muscles were more used for swing phase.
The effectiveness of the active harness system is verified by using the results of foot pressure distribution. In normal walking, the
decrease of fore-foot pressure, lateral gastrocnemius muscle and biceps femoris muscle were remarkable. The lateral gastrocnemius muscle activities were different between treadmill and ground walking.
The results of stand-to-sit motion indicated that the rear-foot pressure and tibialis anterior muscle activities
exceptionally decreased according to body
weight support. The stair walking down results show the marked drop of fore-foot pressure and rectus femoris muscle activities. The sit-to-stand and stair walking up activities were inadequate about the effect of body weight support because the velocity of body weight support system
was slower than male’s activity. The active harness could be apply to not only gait but also many other balance training.