**5. Conclusions**

This chapter presented the principles of the neural prosthesis and discussed the reasons for the hybridization of these systems. The methods used to stimulate the muscles and develop a neuroprosthesis remain valid and the stimulatory parameters are the same. Researchers, however, use new embedded systems technologies and graphical interfaces to program and configure the internal parameters of FES equipment, also using hybridization of orthosis and neuroprosthesis to combine the advantages of individual techniques to counterbalance their individual disadvantages. The joint use of FES and orthosis attempts to reduce user's energy expenditure, postpone muscle fatigue installation, increase posture and movement stability, and reduce the system energy costs. Thus, hybrid neural prostheses increase system efficiency and prolong the time of use, consequently, achieving health benefits.

### **Acknowledgements**

The authors would like to thank the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and Araucária Foundation (FA) for the scholarships and financial resources.

### **Author details**

Percy Nohama\*, Guilherme Nunes Nogueira Neto and Maira Ranciaro Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil

\*Address all correspondence to: percy.nohama@pucpr.br

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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*Hybrid Neuroprosthesis for Lower Limbs DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.83793*

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