Abstract:Foot drop is the inability to voluntarily dorsiflex the ankle during the swing phase of gait and is usually caused by weakness and damages of the peroneal nerve. The consequences of the foot drop include the decreasing of gait quality, the limiting of mobility, the increasing of falling risk, and great increasing of energy expenditure during walking. Firstly biosignal sensors are used in the drop foot stimulator to detect foot movements. Then the surface drop foot stimulator produces a predefined stimulation profile to the peroneal nerve or tibialis anterial to elicit a dorsiflexion of the foot synchronized with the swing phase of gait to lift the foot. This paper reviewed the fundamentals and current researches of drop foot stimulators. Moreover, the development trends of the closed loop drop foot stimulator were also discussed in the paper.