Muscle Activity and Coordination During Robot-Assisted Walking with H2 Exoskeleton

del-Ama, Antonio J.; Asín-Prieto, Guillermo; Piñuela-Martín, Elisa; Pérez-Nombela, Soraya; Lozano-Berrio, Vicente; Serrano-Muñóz, Diego; Trincado-Alonso, Fernando; González-Vargas, José; Gil-Agudo, Ángel; Pons, José L.; Moreno, Juan C.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-46669-9_59

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…4(B)). An increase in PSD when using the assistive exoskeleton was also found in another independent study [46]. However, we observed two exceptions in this study, where the power was decreased when using the assistive exoskeleton (i.e., GL-Delta and SM-Delta).…”

Section: B Psd Analyses Of Emgsupporting

confidence: 78%

What Are Spectral and Spatial Distributions of EEG-EMG Correlations in Overground Walking? An Exploratory Study

Dimitrakopoulos

Thangavel

et al. 2019

IEEE Access

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You probably believe that a latent relationship between the brain and lower limbs exists and it varies across different walking conditions (e.g., walking with or without an exoskeleton). Have you ever thought what the distributions of measured signals are? To address this question, we simultaneously collected electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyogram (EMG) signals while healthy participants were conducting four overground walking conditions without any constraints (e.g., specific speed). The EEG results demonstrated that a wide range of frequencies from delta band to gamma band were involved in walking. The EEG power spectral density (PSD) was significantly different in sensorimotor and posterior parietal areas between exoskeleton-assisted walking and non-exoskeleton walking. The EMG PSD difference was predominantly observed in the theta band and the gastrocnemius lateralis muscle. EEG-EMG PSD correlations differed among walking conditions. The alpha and beta bands were primarily involved in consistently increasing EEG-EMG PSD correlations across the walking conditions, while the theta band was primarily involved in consistently decreasing correlations as observed in the EEG involvement. However, there is no dominant frequency band as observed in the EMG involvement. Channels located over the sensorimotor area were primarily involved in consistently decreasing EEG-EMG PSD correlations and the outer-ring channels were involved in the increasing EEG-EMG PSD correlations. Our study revealed the spectral and spatial distributions relevant to overground walking and deepened the understanding of EEG and EMG representations during locomotion, which may inform the development of a more human-compatible exoskeleton and its usage in motor rehabilitation.INDEX TERMS Correlation distribution, exoskeleton-assisted overground walking, electroencephalogram (EEG), electromyogram (EMG), naturalistic overground walking, power spectral density (PSD).The associate editor coordinating the review of this manuscript and approving it for publication was Zehong Cao .

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Section: B Psd Analyses Of Emgsupporting

confidence: 78%

What Are Spectral and Spatial Distributions of EEG-EMG Correlations in Overground Walking? An Exploratory Study

Dimitrakopoulos

Thangavel

et al. 2019

IEEE Access

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“…Some have been introduced into rehabilitation centers, industry assembly lines, and military training [20][21][22]. Some measures and analyses on the metabolic effects, muscle activities, and human gait patterns have been carried out on the related exoskeletons [11,23,24]. This study remains one of the first to quantify muscle activities for which the exoskeletons are not specifically designed to decrease the metabolic cost.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most research has examined muscle activities of the lower limb, comparing the mean and peak amplitude from free treadmill walking to exoskeleton treadmill walking, and have reported a significant increase in muscle activity with the exoskeleton [24]. Few studies have reported decreased muscle activity when using an exoskeleton [25].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, a longer ground contact time would increase the amount of time the limb is subjected to increased loading. This may result in increased loading of lower limb structures, such as increased metatarsal compression [24]. Alternatively, a longer ground contact time may be a protective mechanism to lower the rate of loading on the internal structures in order to reduce the potential negative effects of increased load magnitude.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Effects on Muscle Activity and Discomfort of Varying Load Carriage With and Without an Augmentation Exoskeleton

Huaixian

Liu

et al. 2018

Applied Sciences

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Load carriage is a key risk factor for Muscular Skeletal Disorders (MSDs). As one way to decrease such injuries, some exoskeletons have been developed for regular load carriage. We examined the ergonomic potential of an augmentation exoskeleton. Nine subjects completed eight trials of carrying tasks, using four loading levels (0, 15, 30, and 45 kg) and two carrying conditions (with and without the exoskeleton). Electromyography (EMG) and the extended NASA-TLX rating scales were investigated and analyzed by linear mixed modeling and two-way ANOVA methods. Noraxon MR3.8, SPSS19.0, and MATLAB R2014b software were adapted. The results show that most of the muscle mean activities increased significantly (p < 0.05) with exoskeleton assistance. However, the interactive effects illustrate a decreasing trend with increase of load level. The mean discomfort rating scale values were generally higher, but subjects generally preferred using the exoskeleton in heavier loading tasks. The exoskeleton can effectively augment the performance of humans in heavy load carriage. The main reasons for higher muscle activity are from inflexible structures and inharmonious human–robot interactions. In order to decrease the MSD risks and increase comfort, optimal human–robot control strategies and adaptable kinematic design should be improved.

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“…In addition, an analysis of combined muscle activation in terms of the number and characteristics of synergies has been proposed to provide a reliable representation of a person’s motor deficits and the degree of adaptability of their motor patterns [ 29 ]. It has been shown that the use of ambulatory exoskeletons does not alter muscle coordination, independently of the level of assistance [ 10 , 30 , 31 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benchmarking the Effects on Human–Exoskeleton Interaction of Trajectory, Admittance and EMG-Triggered Exoskeleton Movement Control

Rodrigues-Carvalho

Fernández-García

Pinto-Fernández

et al. 2023

Sensors

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Nowadays, robotic technology for gait training is becoming a common tool in rehabilitation hospitals. However, its effectiveness is still controversial. Traditional control strategies do not adequately integrate human intention and interaction and little is known regarding the impact of exoskeleton control strategies on muscle coordination, physical effort, and user acceptance. In this article, we benchmarked three types of exoskeleton control strategies in a sample of seven healthy volunteers: trajectory assistance (TC), compliant assistance (AC), and compliant assistance with EMG-Onset stepping control (OC), which allows the user to decide when to take a step during the walking cycle. This exploratory study was conducted within the EUROBENCH project facility. Experimental procedures and data analysis were conducted following EUROBENCH’s protocols. Specifically, exoskeleton kinematics, muscle activation, heart and breathing rates, skin conductance, as well as user-perceived effort were analyzed. Our results show that the OC controller showed robust performance in detecting stepping intention even using a corrupt EMG acquisition channel. The AC and OC controllers resulted in similar kinematic alterations compared to the TC controller. Muscle synergies remained similar to the synergies found in the literature, although some changes in muscle contribution were found, as well as an overall increase in agonist-antagonist co-contraction. The OC condition led to the decreased mean duration of activation of synergies. These differences were not reflected in the overall physiological impact of walking or subjective perception. We conclude that, although the AC and OC walking conditions allowed the users to modulate their walking pattern, the application of these two controllers did not translate into significant changes in the overall physiological cost of walking nor the perceived experience of use. Nonetheless, results suggest that both AC and OC controllers are potentially interesting approaches that can be explored as gait rehabilitation tools. Furthermore, the INTENTION project is, to our knowledge, the first study to benchmark the effects on human–exoskeleton interaction of three different exoskeleton controllers, including a new EMG-based controller designed by us and never tested in previous studies, which has made it possible to provide valuable third-party feedback on the use of the EUROBENCH facility and testbed, enriching the apprenticeship of the project consortium and contributing to the scientific community.

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Muscle Activity and Coordination During Robot-Assisted Walking with H2 Exoskeleton

Cited by 3 publications

References 9 publications

What Are Spectral and Spatial Distributions of EEG-EMG Correlations in Overground Walking? An Exploratory Study

What Are Spectral and Spatial Distributions of EEG-EMG Correlations in Overground Walking? An Exploratory Study

The Effects on Muscle Activity and Discomfort of Varying Load Carriage With and Without an Augmentation Exoskeleton

Benchmarking the Effects on Human–Exoskeleton Interaction of Trajectory, Admittance and EMG-Triggered Exoskeleton Movement Control

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