The effects on biomechanics of walking and balance recovery in a novel pelvis exoskeleton during zero-torque control

Martelli, Dario; Vannetti, Federica; Cortese, Mario; Tropea, Peppino; Giovacchini, Francesco; Micera, Silvestro; Monaco, Vito; Vitiello, Nicola

doi:10.1017/s0263574714001568

Cited by 29 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(46 reference statements)

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“…3A and B, respectively, grey curves2425). Thus, the exoskeleton appeared likely transparent while participants walked steadily, confirming previous results26.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

An ecologically-controlled exoskeleton can improve balance recovery after slippage

Monaco

Tropea

Aprigliano

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

114

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The evolution to bipedalism forced humans to develop suitable strategies for dynamically controlling their balance, ensuring stability, and preventing falling. The natural aging process and traumatic events such as lower-limb loss can alter the human ability to control stability significantly increasing the risk of fall and reducing the overall autonomy. Accordingly, there is an urgent need, from both end-users and society, for novel solutions that can counteract the lack of balance, thus preventing falls among older and fragile citizens. In this study, we show a novel ecological approach relying on a wearable robotic device (the Active Pelvis Orthosis, APO) aimed at facilitating balance recovery after unexpected slippages. Specifically, if the APO detects signs of balance loss, then it supplies counteracting torques at the hips to assist balance recovery. Experimental tests conducted on eight elderly persons and two transfemoral amputees revealed that stability against falls improved due to the “assisting when needed” behavior of the APO. Interestingly, our approach required a very limited personalization for each subject, and this makes it promising for real-life applications. Our findings demonstrate the potential of closed-loop controlled wearable robots to assist elderly and disabled subjects and to improve their quality of life.

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“…3A and B, respectively, grey curves2425). Thus, the exoskeleton appeared likely transparent while participants walked steadily, confirming previous results26.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

An ecologically-controlled exoskeleton can improve balance recovery after slippage

Monaco

Tropea

Aprigliano

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

114

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Previous studies [13], [14], [15], [16] have investigated some aspects of balance with a robotic exoskeleton using testing with a single subject and the study [17] investigated assisted balance recovery following slippage in walking with eight elderly participants. In this context, this paper has presented the first study which systematically analyses balance recovery in standing through stepping with a robotic exoskeleton on four subjects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In [11], [12] a lower limb exoskeleton with variable stiffness actuators was used for balance recovery, however experiments were performed with the robot only. In [13] the influence of passive exoskeleton mechanics on human biomechanics of walking and balancing was investigated. It was shown that a passive exoskeleton degraded the balancing performance when perturbations were applied to the exoskeleton's user.…”

Section: A State Of the Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Overall only a few balance-assisting controllers in lower limb robotic exoskeletons have been investigated with humanparticipants: balance recovery with one subject in [15] and with two subjects in [16]; influences on balance during walking with passive exoskeletons in [13], [14]. Most importantly, these studies did not consider human's active behavior in balancing with the exoskeleton [11], [12].…”

Section: A State Of the Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assisting Human Balance in Standing With a Robotic Exoskeleton

Farkhatdinov

Ebert

Oort

et al. 2019

IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett.

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This paper presents an experimental study on balance recovery control with a lower limb exoskeleton robot. Four participants were subjected to a perturbation during standing, a forward force impulse applied to their pelvis that forced them to step forward with the right leg for balance recovery. Trials with and without exoskeleton assistance to move the stepping legs thigh were conducted to investigate the influence of the exoskeletons control assistance on balancing performance and a potential adaptation. Analysis of the body kinematics and muscle activation demonstrates that robotic assistance: (1) was easy to use and did not require learning, nor inhibited the healthy stepping behavior; (2) it modified the stepping leg trajectories by increasing hip and knee movement; (3) increased reaction speed and decreased the step duration, (4) generally increased biceps femoris and rectus femoris muscle activity.

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“…and to minimize the extent to which the exoskeleton robot might hinder a pilot's movements. Martelli et al [120] developed a zerotorque cascade controller with a 2-pole 2-zero control loop outside a velocity control loop. The controller was used in a pelvis exoskeleton robot to investigate the behaviour of healthy pilots when wearing it.…”

Section: Interaction Force-based Torque Assistmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review on Human–exoskeleton Coordination Towards Lower Limb Robotic Exoskeleton Systems

Ma¹,

Wang²,

Yi³

et al. 2019

International Journal of Robotics and Automation

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The study of lower extremity exoskeleton robots has been pursued for many years and is now receiving significant attention. A number of review articles have focused on describing the mechanical design of exoskeleton robots, their control methods, human-exoskeleton robot interfaces, and so on. None, however, have focused on the coordination of control between humans and these kinds of robots. In this paper, we examine the research regarding human-exoskeleton robot coordinated control to capture the current state-of-the-art. One hundred and fifty six relevant articles were collected and screened from the Web of science, and classified into six categories, based on human neurobiology and exoskeleton robots' assistive effects. These categories were further subdivided according to their perspective on human-exoskeleton robots coordinated control. The paper extensively reviews various control methods we uncovered and how they are coordinated between wearer and exoskeleton robot.

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The effects on biomechanics of walking and balance recovery in a novel pelvis exoskeleton during zero-torque control

Cited by 29 publications

References 33 publications

An ecologically-controlled exoskeleton can improve balance recovery after slippage

An ecologically-controlled exoskeleton can improve balance recovery after slippage

Assisting Human Balance in Standing With a Robotic Exoskeleton

A Review on Human–exoskeleton Coordination Towards Lower Limb Robotic Exoskeleton Systems

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