Abstract
Accurately perceiving and predicting the parameters related to human walking is very important for man–machine coupled cooperative control systems such as exoskeletons and power prostheses. Plantar pressure data is rich in human gait and posture information and is an essential source of reference information as the input of the exoskeleton control system. Therefore, the proper design of the pressure sensing insole and validation is a big challenge considering the requirements such as convenience, reliability, no interference and so on. In this research, we developed a low-cost modular sensing unit based on the principle of photoelectric sensing and designed a plantar pressure sensing insole to achieve the purpose of sensing human walking gait and posture information. On the one hand, the sensor unit is made of economy-friendly commercial flexible circuits and elastic silicone, and the mechanical and electrical characteristics of the modular sensor unit are evaluated by a self-developed pressure-related calibration system. The calibration results show that the modular sensor based on the photoelectric sensing principle has fast response and negligible hysteresis. On the other hand, we analyzed the area where the plantar pressure is densely distributed. One benefit of the modular sensing unit design is that it is rather convenient to fabricate different insole solutions, so we fabricated and compared several pressure-sensitive insole solutions in this preliminary study. During the dynamic locomotion experiments of wearing the pressure-sensing insole, the time series signal of each sensor unit was collected and analyzed. The results show that the pressure sensing insole based on the photoelectric effect can sense the distribution of the plantar pressure by capturing the deformation of the insole caused by the foot contact during locomotion, and provide reliable gait information for wearable applications.
Highlights
We designed a modular sensing unit based on the sensing principle ple introduced above, adjusting the sensor layout according to different foot sizes to emintroduced above, adjusting sensor layout according to different foot sizes to embed bed pressure sensing insoles.the
The design and application of a simple and reliable plantar pressure data acquisition device is very important for wearable human body assist equipment such as exoskeletons and power prosthesis
We conducted a novel plantar pressure sensing insole based on photoelectric sensing technology. The innovation of this modular sensing unit focuses on sensing principles, structural design and elastic materials
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Much research on lower limb exoskeleton robots has been carried out [1,2,3,4] to help with human activities and enhance the functions of the human body. Among many exoskeleton/prosthetic assist devices, the primary task is to provide the wearer with assistance in walking motions. The detection and sensing of data information related to human motion is the basis of and key to the compliance control of the lower limb wearable device [5,6]. The human wearer is the controlling center of an exoskeleton system
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