Development of Proprioceptive and Vibrotactile Training Modes for BALANSens Platform

Recent studies have shown that training plantar tactile perception (vibrotactile sensation) and ankle joint position awareness (proprioceptive sensation) can substantially improve balance and gait rehabilitation. Building on these findings, we developed two training modes for the BALANSens robotic platform, a 3-RPS lower-limb rehabilitation manipulator designed in alignment with the Integrated Balance Rehabilitation (I-BaR) framework. In the proprioceptive training mode, the robot guides the subject's ankle to a target position and back, after which the subject reproduces the movement without visual feedback. In the vibrotactile training mode, one of the motors stimulating the plantar surface is randomly activated, and the subject identifies the stimulated region. This paper presents the design and functional evaluation of these training modes with healthy subjects. Results indicate that angular deviation (with and without VR) in proprioceptive training, along with accuracy and response times in vibrotactile training, serve as reliable quantitative performance metrics. Clinical trials are planned to further solidify this claim of potential of sensory feedback-based interventions for rehabilitation.