Virtual Constraint Control of a Powered Prosthetic Leg: Experiments with Transfemoral Amputees
نویسنده
چکیده
Powered prosthetic legs could significantly improve mobility for lower-limb amputees, but the performance and clinical viability of these devices are currently limited by complex control systems that independently control different joints and time periods of the gait cycle. Recent efforts have been made to address these challenges with a unifying control model used by recent bipedal robots, in which virtual constraints define joint patterns as functions of a monotonic variable that continuously represents the gait cycle phase. This talk reports initial results of virtual constraint control of a powered prosthetic leg with three transfemoral amputee subjects walking overground and at variable cadences on a treadmill.
منابع مشابه
Engineering platform and experimental protocol for design and evaluation of a neurally-controlled powered transfemoral prosthesis.
To enable intuitive operation of powered artificial legs, an interface between user and prosthesis that can recognize the user's movement intent is desired. A novel neural-machine interface (NMI) based on neuromuscular-mechanical fusion developed in our previous study has demonstrated a great potential to accurately identify the intended movement of transfemoral amputees. However, this interfac...
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Powered knee-ankle prostheses are capable of providing net-positive mechanical energy to amputees. Yet, there are limitless ways to deliver this energy throughout the gait cycle. It remains largely unknown how different combinations of active knee and ankle assistance affect the walking mechanics of transfemoral amputees. This study assessed the relative contributions of stance phase knee swing...
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BACKGROUND In transfemoral (TF) amputees, the forward propulsion of the prosthetic leg in swing has to be mainly carried out by hip muscles. With hip strength being the strongest predictor to ambulation ability, an active powered knee joint could have a positive influence, lowering hip loading and contributing to ambulation mobility. To assess this, gait of four TF amputees was measured for lev...
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