Human Ankle Mechanical Impedance Research Articles

Self-Tuning Extended Kalman Filter Parameters to Identify Ankle's Third-Order Mechanics.

The estimation of human ankle's mechanical impedance is an important tool for modeling human balance. This work presents the implementation of a parameter-estimation approach based on a state-augmented extended Kalman filter (AEKF) to infer the ankle's mechanical impedance during quiet standing. However, the AEKF filter is sensitive to the initialization of the noise covariance matrices. In order to avoid a time-consuming trial-and-error method and to obtain a better estimation performance, a genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed to best tune the measurement noise (Rk) and process noise covariances (Q) of the extended Kalman filter (EKF). Results using simulated data show the efficacy of the proposed algorithm for parameter-estimation of a third-order biomechanical model. Experimental validation of these results is also presented. They suggest that age is an influencing factor in the human balance.

Estimating the multivariable human ankle impedance in dorsi-plantarflexion and inversion-eversion directions using EMG signals and artificial neural networks

The use of a suitably designed ankle-foot prosthesis is essential for transtibial amputees to regain lost mobility. A desired ankle–foot prosthesis must be able to replicate the function of a healthy human ankle by transferring the ground reaction forces to the body, absorbing shock during contact, and providing propulsion. During the swing phase of walking, the human ankle is soft and relaxed; however, it hardens as it bears the body weight and provides force for push-off. The stiffness is one of the components of the mechanical impedance, and it varies with muscle activation (Stochastic estimation of human ankle mechanical impedance in medial-lateral direction, 2014, Stochastic estimation of the multivariable mechanical impedance of the human ankle with active muscles, 2010). This study defines the relationship between ankle impedance and the lower extremity muscle activations using artificial neural networks (ANN). We used the Anklebot, a highly backdrivable, safe, and therapeutic robot to apply stochastic position perturbations to the human ankle in the sagittal and frontal planes. A previously proposed system identification method was used to estimate the target ankle impedance to train the ANN. The ankle impedance was estimated with relaxed muscles and with lower leg muscle activations at 10 and 20% of the maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) of each individual subject. Given the root mean squared (rms) of the electromyography (EMG) signals, the proposed ANN effectively predicted the ankle impedance with mean accuracy of 89.8 ± 6.1% in DP and mean accuracy of 88.3 ± 5.7% in IE, averaged across three muscle activation levels and all subjects.

Design and Evaluation of a 2-DOF Instrumented Platform for Estimation of the Ankle Mechanical Impedance in the Sagittal and Frontal Planes

This paper describes the fabrication and initial evaluation of a vibrating platform with two degrees of freedom (DOF) to estimate the human ankle's mechanical impedance in two DOFs; namely dorsiflexion–plantarflexion (DP) and inversion–eversion (IE). The device consists of an actuation and a force plate module. The actuation module generates torque perturbations up to 168 N·m in DP and 26 N·m in IE in the force plate module using Bowden cables. This provides a low-profile system that can be installed in a walkway. The frame of the force plate module rotates in two DOFs, applying torque perturbations to the human ankle in DP and IE. The ankle's rotations are measured using a motion capture camera system. The analytical and numerical approaches for estimation of the ankle's torques, rotations, and impedances are presented. A system validation using a mockup was conducted to verify the system's ability to estimate the impedance of a physical system in two DOFs. The developed system was capable of identifying the mockup's physical properties up to 15 Hz. The mockup's impedance magnitude at 0.9 Hz using a stochastic identification method was shown to be within 1.68% and 0.54% of the mockup's stiffness in DP and IE, respectively.

Summary of Human Ankle Mechanical Impedance During Walking.

The human ankle joint plays a critical role during walking and understanding the biomechanical factors that govern ankle behavior and provides fundamental insight into normal and pathologically altered gait. Previous researchers have comprehensively studied ankle joint kinetics and kinematics during many biomechanical tasks, including locomotion; however, only recently have researchers been able to quantify how the mechanical impedance of the ankle varies during walking. The mechanical impedance describes the dynamic relationship between the joint position and the joint torque during perturbation, and is often represented in terms of stiffness, damping, and inertia. The purpose of this short communication is to unify the results of the first two studies measuring ankle mechanical impedance in the sagittal plane during walking, where each study investigated differing regions of the gait cycle. Rouse et al. measured ankle impedance from late loading response to terminal stance, where Lee et al. quantified ankle impedance from pre-swing to early loading response. While stiffness component of impedance increases significantly as the stance phase of walking progressed, the change in damping during the gait cycle is much less than the changes observed in stiffness. In addition, both stiffness and damping remained low during the swing phase of walking. Future work will focus on quantifying impedance during the “push off” region of stance phase, as well as measurement of these properties in the coronal plane.

A two-axis cable-driven ankle-foot mechanism

Abstract This paper describes a novel cable-driven ankle-foot mechanism with two controllable degrees of freedom (DOF) in dorsiflexion-plantarflexion (DP) and inversion-eversion (IE). The presented mechanism is a proof of concept to demonstrate feasibility. Ankle kinematic measurements demonstrate that ankle IE rotations during a step turn are significantly different from walking on a straight path. This suggests that the ankle-foot mechanisms used in prostheses, exoskeletons, and bipedal robots can be improved by controlling a second degree of freedom in the frontal plane. The proposed prototype mechanism is described in detail, and its design considerations and parameters are presented. The mechanism is capable of producing trajectories similar to the human ankle during a step turn. The device shows passive mechanical impedance close to the human ankle mechanical impedance, allowing its mechanical impedance to be controlled using an impedance controller. The presented mechanism is capable of providing key mechanical characteristics similar to the human ankle, including power, range of motion, and weight, suggesting the feasibility of this design concept.

Time-Varying Ankle Mechanical Impedance During Human Locomotion.

In human locomotion, we continuously modulate joint mechanical impedance of the lower limb (hip, knee, and ankle) either voluntarily or reflexively to accommodate environmental changes and maintain stable interaction. Ankle mechanical impedance plays a pivotal role at the interface between the neuro-mechanical system and the physical world. This paper reports, for the first time, a characterization of human ankle mechanical impedance in two degrees-of-freedom simultaneously as it varies with time during walking. Ensemble-based linear time-varying system identification methods implemented with a wearable ankle robot, Anklebot, enabled reliable estimation of ankle mechanical impedance from the pre-swing phase through the entire swing phase to the early-stance phase. This included heel-strike and toe-off, key events in the transition from the swing to stance phase or vice versa. Time-varying ankle mechanical impedance was accurately approximated by a second order model consisting of inertia, viscosity, and stiffness in both inversion-eversion and dorsiflexion-plantarflexion directions, as observed in our previous steady-state dynamic studies. We found that viscosity and stiffness of the ankle significantly decreased at the end of the stance phase before toe-off, remained relatively constant across the swing phase, and increased around heel-strike. Closer investigation around heel-strike revealed that viscosity and stiffness in both planes increased before heel-strike occurred. This finding is important evidence of "pretuning" by the central nervous system. In addition, viscosity and stiffness were greater in the sagittal plane than in the frontal plane across all subgait phases, except the early stance phase. Comparison with previous studies and implications for clinical study of neurologically impaired patients are provided.