Development of an Automatic Perturbator for Dynamic Posturographic Analysis

The subject of this paper is a novel pneumo-tronic system aimed at applying impulsive force perturbations to the human body in order to elicit postural reactions. The development of the prototype is based on the use of a specifically realized experimental test bench. An analytical model of the whole system, including its interaction with both the subject’s body and with the operator, is briefly presented. The test bench is used to validate the model and to perform experimental trials. The results confirm the validity of the model but call for a more accurate selection of the system components and of the control logic, in order to achieve the desired performance for such a demanding application.