Augmenting human power by assistive robots: Application of adaptive neural networks

Abstract

In this paper, we present a control scheme for robotic exoskeletons to gain the desired transparency for a wide range of tasks, which leads to the provision of sufficient support to the wearer in different situations. The main goal of the study was to evaluate the performance of adaptive neural networkbased controllers in gaining transparency for powerassist robots. As these devices experience a large dynamic change during handling different tasks/loads, we studied whether neural networks (NNs) can promptly learn the dynamics and provide sufficiently smooth commands to achieve the desired transparency. Our evaluations were performed through experiments conducted on an upperlimb robotic exoskeleton with unknown dynamics handling external loads. We tested a commonly used structure of NNs with different layers of adjustable weights and numbers of neurons. We also tested the smoothness of the system response and concluded that to gain natural and comfortable feeling the desired transparency needs to be selected in accordance with the task.