In this research, we describe a new balancing device used to stabilize the rear quarters of a patient dog with spinal cord injuries. Our approach uses inertial measurement sensing and direct leg actuation to lay a foundation for eventual muscle control by means of direct functional electrical stimulation (FES). During this phase of development, we designed and built a mechanical test-bed to develop the control and stimulation algorithms before we use the device on our animal subjects. We designed the bionic test-bed to mimic the typical walking gait of a dog and use it to develop and test the functionality of the balancing device for stabilization of patient dogs with hindquarter paralysis. We present analysis for various muscle stimulation and balancing strategies, and our device can be used by veterinarians to tailor the stimulation strength and temporal distribution for any individual patient dog. We develop stabilizing muscle stimulation strategies using the robotic test-bed to enhance walking stability. We present experimental results using the bionic test-bed to demonstrate that the balancing device can provide an effective sensing strategy and deliver the required motion control commands for stabilizing an actual dog with a spinal cord injury.
In this research, we are working to develop a wearable device for stabilizing walking in dachshunds with spinal cord injuries. Our approach is to use sensors on the dog to measure the angle of the torso and stimulate leg motion to balance the animal during standing and walking. The first step in this work is to develop a mechanical test-bed in order to replicate the motion and muscle response during the gait of the dog. This testbed will be used for exploring sensor device operation and for developing appropriate leg stimulation to achieve stability. This robotic testbed is a replica of dog’s rear limbs and is programmed to mimic the gait of the dog. Our initial experiments test the automatic stabilization of the robot by mimicking the walking gait of a healthy dog. We use test data from an actual dog walking on a treadmill to develop representative walking gait characteristics for use on our experimental test bed. Our results show that our bionic dog is an acceptable replica for use in testing the stabilization and control algorithms.
In this study, we present the experimental results demonstrating the functionality of our recently developed “balancing device” for walking restoration in patients with spinal cord injuries. Since we are preparing this device for testing on dogs, we program the analytical core of the device to recognize both stance and swing phases of the dog gait, the direction that the dog is falling, as well as selecting a suitable balancing strategy to prevent falling. The analytical core of the device is a commercial microcontroller, the Teensy, which is able to provide suitable stimulation commands and intensities as a voltage for delivery to the stimulation circuit and target muscles. We show the functional schematic of the device along with experimental results obtained by testing the device in a simulated robotic dog. Results show that the sensory system of the animal lost by spinal cord injury can be replaced by the sensing core of the device and the analytical core can provide appropriate stimulation control to balance the body of a dog. All test results are obtained using our robot test-bed and living animals are not involved in this study.
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