An Active Foot-Ankle Prosthesis With Biomechanical Energy Regeneration

Hitt, Joseph K.; Sugar, Thomas G.; Holgate, Matthew; Bellman, Ryan

doi:10.1115/1.4001139

Cited by 143 publications

(97 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…For an average able-bodied human weighing 80 kg, the energy consumption required at each step is 36 J (250 watts peak power) [14] and torque as high as 140 Nm [21] during walking. These amounts are 35% higher for an individual with transtibial prosthesis [14,22], and the mechanism is estimated to have 40% losses, resulting in an anticipated peak power consumption of 470 watts, an energy consumption of 68 J, and a peak torque of 264 Nm in the sagittal plane.…”

Section: Selection and Design Of The Active Componentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One example is a transfemoral prosthesis with powered ankle and knee joints in the sagittal plane developed by Sup et al where the controller is capable of regulating the impedance of each joint as needed [9][10][11][12]. SPARKy 1 and 2 have been developed by Hitt et al as a tendon-actuated ankle-foot prostheses capable of producing the necessary push-off moments during walking and running, respectively [13,14]. Additionally, Au et al developed the BiOM, an ankle-foot prosthesis with a finite state machine to determine the gait phase and generate the appropriate kinetic output [15][16][17][18][19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A two-axis cable-driven ankle-foot mechanism

2014

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This paper describes a novel cable-driven ankle-foot mechanism with two controllable degrees of freedom (DOF) in dorsiflexion-plantarflexion (DP) and inversion-eversion (IE). The presented mechanism is a proof of concept to demonstrate feasibility. Ankle kinematic measurements demonstrate that ankle IE rotations during a step turn are significantly different from walking on a straight path. This suggests that the ankle-foot mechanisms used in prostheses, exoskeletons, and bipedal robots can be improved by controlling a second degree of freedom in the frontal plane. The proposed prototype mechanism is described in detail, and its design considerations and parameters are presented. The mechanism is capable of producing trajectories similar to the human ankle during a step turn. The device shows passive mechanical impedance close to the human ankle mechanical impedance, allowing its mechanical impedance to be controlled using an impedance controller. The presented mechanism is capable of providing key mechanical characteristics similar to the human ankle, including power, range of motion, and weight, suggesting the feasibility of this design concept.

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Section: Selection and Design Of The Active Componentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A two-axis cable-driven ankle-foot mechanism

2014

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“…However, the joint mechanisms cannot output enough torque for a running life-sized humanoid robot. Some artificial legs have been developed for achieving natural locomotion; however, they mimic only ankle stiffness, not knee joint stiffness, and the amount of joint stiffness is not equal to that of a human [29][30][31][32].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Joint Mechanism That Mimics Elastic Characteristics in Human Running

et al. 2016

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Analysis of human running has revealed that the motion of the human leg can be modeled by a compression spring because the joints of the leg behave like a torsion spring in the stance phase. In this paper, we describe the development of a joint mechanism that mimics the elastic characteristics of the joints of the stance leg. The knee was equipped with a mechanism comprising two laminated leaf springs made of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic for adjusting the joint stiffness and a worm gear in order to achieve active movement. Using this mechanism, we were able to achieve joint stiffness mimicking that of a human knee joint that can be adjusted by varying the effective length of one of the laminated leaf springs. The equation proposed for calculating the joint stiffness considers the difference between the position of the fixed point of the leaf spring and the position of the rotational center of the joint. We evaluated the performance of the laminated leaf spring and the effectiveness of the proposed equation for joint stiffness. We were able to make a bipedal robot run with one leg using pelvic oscillation for storing energy produced by the resonance related to leg elasticity.

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“…The best device in this category is the SPARKy 2 prototype [55,57,58] which has shown to support these 3 tasks. Other devices have the potential to be highly adaptable but still need to prove it.…”

Section: Comparison Analysis Of Propulsive Bionic Feet and Their Prefmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The mechanical energy requirements of the motor in the SEA optimized for PP, calculated by integrating the corresponding power curve in Figure 7, is presented in Section 4 (see Table 1). At the Arizona State University (ASU-United States), the SPARKy project (Spring Ankle with Regenerative Kinetics) [55] uses a robotic tendon actuator (including a 150 W Brushed DC motor-Maxon RE40) [56] to provide 100% of the push-off power required for walking while maintaining intact gait kinematics. The first prototype (SPARKy 1 shown in Figure 10(a)) [57] was shown to store and release approximately 16 J of energy per step, while an intact ankle of a 80 kg subject at 0.8 Hz walking rate needs approximately 36 J [58].…”

Section: (A) Series Elastic Actuation (Sea)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in Propulsive Bionic Feet and Their Actuation Principles

Cherelle

Mathijssen

Wang

et al. 2014

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

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In the past decades, researchers have deeply studied pathological and nonpathological gait to understand the human ankle function during walking. These efforts resulted in the development of new lower limb prosthetic devices aiming at raising the 3C-level (control, comfort, and cosmetics) of amputees. Thanks to the technological advances in engineering and mechatronics, challenges in the field of prosthetics have become an important source of interest for roboticists. Currently, most of the bionic feet are still on a research level but show promising results and a preview of tomorrow's commercial prosthetic devices. In this paper, the authors present the current state-of-the-art and the latest advances in propulsive bionic feet with its actuation principles. The context of this review study is outlined followed by a brief description of the basics in human biomechanics and criteria for new prosthetic designs. A new categorization based on the actuation principle of propulsive ankle-foot prostheses is proposed. Based on simulations, the general principles and benefits of each actuation method are explained. The corresponding latest advances in propulsive bionic feet are presented together with their main characteristics and scientific outcomes. The authors also propose to the reader a comparison analysis of the presented devices with a discussion of the general tendencies in new prosthetic feet.

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An Active Foot-Ankle Prosthesis With Biomechanical Energy Regeneration

Cited by 143 publications

References 18 publications

A two-axis cable-driven ankle-foot mechanism

A two-axis cable-driven ankle-foot mechanism

Joint Mechanism That Mimics Elastic Characteristics in Human Running

Advances in Propulsive Bionic Feet and Their Actuation Principles

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