Development of closed-fitting-type walking assistance device for legs and evaluation of muscle activity

Ikehara, Tadaaki; Nagamura, Kazuteru; Ushida, Takurou; Tanaka, Eiichirou; Saegusa, Shozo; Kojima, Sho; Yuge, Louis

doi:10.1109/icorr.2011.5975449

Cited by 17 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Exoskeletons generally use a predefined gait trajectory to assist impaired subjects [ 35 , 36 , 37 ]. Exoskeletons can aid the elderly or weak-muscled adults with an EMG-based controller [ 34 ], a model-based controller [ 38 , 39 ], or simply by controllers with a predefined gait trajectory [ 40 ]. The impedance controller of the exoskeleton can control the position of the exoskeleton and control the interactive force between the human and the exoskeleton [ 41 ].…”

Section: Controller Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tripping Avoidance Lower Extremity Exoskeleton Based on Virtual Potential Field for Elderly People

Zhang

Zheng

et al. 2020

Sensors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tripping is a common problem that everyone faces when walking. This paper mainly focuses on a lower limb exoskeleton that can help those weak in joints to avoid tripping when negotiating stairs or stepping over obstacles. This method does not need a camera or map reconstruction to recognize the obstacles and plan paths. The exoskeleton applies an impedance controller to follow and control the pilot’s movements. A virtual potential field is proposed to help the robot regulate the pilot’s motion and avoid kicking the obstacles appearing in front of the pilot’s foot during walking. Simulation and experiments show that this method works effectively and could help the elderly and those affected by joint weakness avoid tripping when walking.

show abstract

Section: Controller Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tripping Avoidance Lower Extremity Exoskeleton Based on Virtual Potential Field for Elderly People

Zhang

Zheng

et al. 2020

Sensors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…When targeting assistance at people with moderate to low impairments, a further level of simplification in the device can be adopted. Examples are given by navigation assistance devices developed to address the needs of the elderly, as in Kong and Jeon ( 2006 ) and Ikehara et al ( 2011 ), where slim designs are presented, but traditional mechanical transmission mechanisms are still employed resulting in heavy solutions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pneumatic Quasi-Passive Actuation for Soft Assistive Lower Limbs Exoskeleton

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is a growing international interest in developing soft wearable robotic devices to improve mobility and daily life autonomy as well as for rehabilitation purposes. Usability, comfort and acceptance of such devices will affect their uptakes in mainstream daily life. The XoSoft EU project developed a modular soft lower-limb exoskeleton to assist people with low mobility impairments. This paper presents the bio-inspired design of a soft, modular exoskeleton for lower limb assistance based on pneumatic quasi-passive actuation. The design of a modular reconfigurable prototype and its performance are presented. This actuation centers on an active mechanical element to modulate the assistance generated by a traditional passive component, in this case an elastic belt. This study assesses the feasibility of this type of assistive device by evaluating the energetic outcomes on a healthy subject during a walking task. Human-exoskeleton interaction in relation to task-based biological power assistance and kinematics variations of the gait are evaluated. The resultant assistance, in terms of overall power ratio () between the exoskeleton and the assisted joint, was 26.6% for hip actuation, 9.3% for the knee and 12.6% for the ankle. The released maximum power supplied on each articulation, was 113.6% for the hip, 93.2% for the knee, and 150.8% for the ankle.

show abstract

“…43 Electromyography (EMG) is often used to evaluate muscle activity so as to provide input for the control algorithm, [44][45][46][47] to estimate the user's intention, 6,15,16,48 and, ultimately, to prove the concept of support. 30,46,[49][50][51][52] However, the EMG signal is noisy and is prone to interferences such as skin conductance changes and any slight change in the positioning of electrodes. 53 It does not give a reliable estimate of muscle force when muscle fatigue occurs either.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knee-ankle-foot orthosis with powered knee for support in the elderly

Pott

Wolf

Block

et al. 2017

Proc Inst Mech Eng H

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A prototype of a powered knee orthotic device was developed to determine whether fractional external torque and power support to the knee relieves the biomechanical loads and reduces the muscular demand for a subject performing sit-to-stand movements. With this demonstrator, consisting of the subsystems actuation, kinematics, sensors, and control, all relevant sensor data can be acquired and full control is maintained over actuator parameters. A series-elastic actuator based on a direct current motor provides up to 30 Nm torque to the knee via a hinge joint with an additional sliding degree of freedom. For reasons of feasibility under everyday conditions, user intention is monitored by employing a noninvasive, nonsticking muscle activity sensor to replace electromyographic sensors, which require skin preparation. Furthermore, foot plates with force sensors have been developed and included to derive ground reaction forces. The actual knee torque needed to provide the desired support is based on an inverse dynamics model using ground reaction forces signals and leg kinematics. A control algorithm including disturbance feed forward has been implemented. A demonstration experiment with two subjects showed that 23 % of moment support in fact leads to a similar reduction in activation of the main knee extensor muscle.

show abstract

Development of closed-fitting-type walking assistance device for legs and evaluation of muscle activity

Cited by 17 publications

References 6 publications

Tripping Avoidance Lower Extremity Exoskeleton Based on Virtual Potential Field for Elderly People

Tripping Avoidance Lower Extremity Exoskeleton Based on Virtual Potential Field for Elderly People

Pneumatic Quasi-Passive Actuation for Soft Assistive Lower Limbs Exoskeleton

Knee-ankle-foot orthosis with powered knee for support in the elderly

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About