Wearable Lower Limb Exoskeleton Research Articles

Adaptive Random Forest for Gait Prediction in Lower Limb Exoskeleton

To improve the human-machine cooperativity of a wearable lower limb exoskeleton, a gait recognition method based on surface electromyography (sEMG) was proposed. sEMG of rectus femoris, vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, semitendinosus and biceps femoris were acquired. Then, time domain, frequency domain, time-frequency domain and nonlinear features were extracted. The integrated value of electromyography, variance, root mean square and wavelength were selected as the time domain features and the frequency domain feature includes mean power frequency. Wavelet packet energy was selected as the time-frequency domain feature. Nonlinear features including approximate entropy, sample entropy and fuzzy entropy of sEMG were extracted. Classification accuracy of different feature matrices and different muscle groups were constructed and verified. The optimal multi-dimensional fusion feature matrix was determined. Introducing the Bayesian optimization algorithm, the Bayesian optimized Random Forest classification model was constructed to identify different gait phases. Comparing with Random Forest, the accuracy of the optimized Random Forest was improved by 5.89%. Applying Random Forest algorithm with Bayesian optimization to gait prediction based on sEMG, the followership and consistency of gait control in lower limb exoskeleton can be improved. This template explains and demonstrates how to prepare your camera-ready paper for Trans Tech Publications. The best is to read these instructions and follow the outline of this text.

TRANSITION MOTION PATTERN CLASSIFICATION FOR LOWER LIMB EXOSKELETON IN STAIR SCENES BASED ON CNN AND GRU

Motion pattern classification is one of the important research fields in lower extremity exoskeleton robot, it refers to acquiring motion data from multiple sensors installed on the exoskeleton. We designed a wearable lower limb exoskeleton robot with multiple sensors mainly including force sensitive resistors (FSRs) inside smart shoes and encoders inside joints. The wearable robot was used to help people carry the heavy load in the scenes of ascending stairs and descending stairs. The experiments of stair walking were carried out by the subjects who wore the exoskeleton to ascend stairs and descend stairs for a designated time. Before or after the stair walking, the subject would turn to move on flat ground with the result that there existed four transition motions between the stair and flat ground walking. As known, there is less research focusing on the classification of transition motions. The aim of this paper is to classify these motion patterns through a learning algorithm. The convolutional neural network (CNN) and gated recurrent unit (GRU) framework were combined to improve the classification accuracy. Specifically, CNN was used to extract the features of the motion pattern, while GRU was used to extract the temporal correlation during walking. Experimental works showed that the proposed CNN-GRU possessed a significantly high prediction accuracy in motion pattern classification. Compared with CNN, GRU and LSTM-CNN models whose accuracy score does not exceed 93.22%, the proposed CNN-GRU gained a high accuracy of 95.51%.

An integrated evaluation approach of wearable lower limb exoskeletons for human performance augmentation

Wearable robots have been growing exponentially during the past years and it is crucial to quantify the performance effectiveness and to convert them into practical benchmarks. Although there exist some common metrics such as metabolic cost, many other characteristics still needs to be presented and demonstrated. In this study, we developed an integrated evaluation (IE) approach of wearable exoskeletons of lower limb focusing on human performance augmentation. We proposed a novel classification of trial tasks closely related to exoskeleton functions, which were divided into three categories, namely, basic trial at the preliminary phase, semi-reality trial at the intermediate phase, and reality trial at the advanced phase. In the present study, the IE approach has been exercised with a subject who wore an active power-assisted knee (APAK) exoskeleton with three types of trial tasks, including walking on a treadmill at a certain angle, walking up and down on three-step stairs, and ascending in 11-storey stairs. Three wearable conditions were carried out in each trial task, i.e. with unpowered exoskeleton, with powered exoskeleton, and without the exoskeleton. Nine performance indicators (PIs) for evaluating performance effectiveness were adopted basing on three aspects of goal-level, task-based kinematics, and human–robot interactions. Results indicated that compared with other conditions, the powered APAK exoskeleton make generally lesser heart rate (HR), Metabolic equivalent (METs), biceps femoris (BF) and rectus femoris (RF) muscles activation of the subject at the preliminary phase and intermediate phase, however, with minimal performance augmentation at advanced phase, suggesting that the APAK exoskeleton is not suitable for marketing and should be further improved. In the future, continuous iterative optimization for the IE approach may help the robot community to attain a comprehensive benchmarking methodology for robot-assisted locomotion more efficiently.

Evaluation of safety-related performance of wearable lower limb exoskeleton robot (WLLER): A systematic review

Wearable lower limb exoskeleton robots (WLLER) have broad development prospects in the military, industrial and medical fields. The intelligent device comes into intimate contact with the human body, and its safety is an essential factor that developers must consider. With the increasing research on the safety of WLLER, its safety test methods and indicators should gradually improve. By examining current test methods and indicators, this study aims to mobilize this information and summarize the most recent safety research. The safety-related studies reviewed in this paper are not limited to evaluating subjects in clinical trials but are concerned with extensive safety research. The focus of our analysis is the test performance indicators. Some functional evaluation indicators are also summarized to explore a broader and more applicable approach on the safety metrics. We found that, in general, most researchers pay attention to the power-assisting performance of WLLER, but the stability and comfort have been largely ignored. At the same time, our analysis also reveals that although there are a wide variety of existing evaluation indicators, uniform and standard test methods and indicators for safety testing of WLLER are still deficient. Based on these results, we identified and discussed several promising research directions that may help the community to attain a widely accepted test method that can objectively evaluate the safety of WLLER.

Evaluation of Lower Limb Exoskeleton for Improving Balance during Squatting Exercise using Center of Pressure Metrics

The foot center of pressure (COP) variability is an important indicator of balance, particularly relevant for rehabilitation and training using wearable lower limb exoskeletons. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of our exoskeleton in assisting squatting motion using the COP variability as a metric. Six human subjects performed alternate squatting and standing movements while their foot pressure and COP trajectories were recorded using insole pressure sensors. The exercises were performed under three conditions: i) no device, ii) unpowered device, and iii) device with optimal stiffness. Results showed that the variability of the COP trajectory in the anterior-posterior direction of the foot during squatting tended to be lower for the optimal stiffness condition than the no device and unpowered device conditions, indicating the potential usefulness of the device in improving balance during squatting. This study has implications for human-inthe-loop optimization and balance control of the exoskeleton based on COP.

Integral Real-time Locomotion Mode Recognition Based on GA-CNN for Lower Limb Exoskeleton

The wearable lower limb exoskeleton is a typical human-in-loop human–robot coupled system, which conducts natural and close cooperation with the human by recognizing human locomotion timely. Requiring subject-specific training is the main challenge of the existing approaches, and most methods have the problem of insufficient recognition. This paper proposes an integral subject-adaptive real-time Locomotion Mode Recognition (LMR) method based on GA-CNN for a lower limb exoskeleton system. The LMR method is a combination of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) and Genetic Algorithm (GA)-based multi-sensor information selection. To improve network performance, the hyper-parameters are optimized by Bayesian optimization. An exoskeleton prototype system with multi-type sensors and novel sensing-shoes is used to verify the proposed method. Twelve locomotion modes, which composed an integral locomotion system for the daily application of the exoskeleton, can be recognized by the proposed method. According to a series of experiments, the recognizer shows strong comprehensive abilities including high accuracy, low delay, and sufficient adaption to different subjects.

A Wearable Lower Limb Exoskeleton: Reducing the Energy Cost of Human Movement.

Human body enhancement is an interesting branch of robotics. It focuses on wearable robots in order to improve the performance of human body, reduce energy consumption and delay fatigue, as well as increase body speed. Robot-assisted equipment, such as wearable exoskeletons, are wearable robot systems that integrate human intelligence and robot power. After careful design and adaptation, the human body has energy-saving sports, but it is an arduous task for the exoskeleton to achieve considerable reduction in metabolic rate. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the biomechanics of human sports, the body, and its weaknesses. In this study, a lower limb exoskeleton was classified according to the power source, and the working principle, design idea, wearing mode, material and performance of different types of lower limb exoskeletons were compared and analyzed. The study shows that the unpowered exoskeleton robot has inherent advantages in endurance, mass, volume, and cost, which is a new development direction of robot exoskeletons. This paper not only summarizes the existing research but also points out its shortcomings through the comparative analysis of different lower limb wearable exoskeletons. Furthermore, improvement measures suitable for practical application have been provided.

Investigation of Hysteresis Effect in Torque Performance for a Magnetorheological Brake in Adaptive Knee Orthosis

Semi-active knee orthosis (SAKO) is a kind of wearable lower-limb exoskeleton that uses actuators to support the regular biomechanical functions. It is much better than conventional knee orthosis (CKO) devices because of its high torque to volume ratio (TVR) and low mass. Magnetorheological (MR) brake is one of the smart actuators that can be used as an active resistance device in SAKO. It has advantages of fast response, low power consumption, and low vibration operation. This smart brake also has wide applications in the robotic and automotive industries. However, the electromagnetic setup in MR brakes has a hysteresis problem. This paper aims to turn this hysteresis problem into an advantage to save the power consumption of MR brake. Since the SAKO needs precise torque control, this research studied the hysteresis effect on the torque performance of MR brake. A less energy-consuming PWM actuation signal is proposed to activate the MR brake. The effects of frequency and duty cycle of PWM actuation signal on MR brake performance are also investigated. The electromagnetic (EM) and mechanical models of the MR brake were developed to simulate performance. Initial validation of these models is done by simulating the MR brake model with the DC actuation signal in finite element analysis software. For the final validation, the model simulation results are compared with experimental results. The factors affecting the steady torque and the response time of the MR brake are studied to find the optimal frequency and duty cycle for the applied PWM signal. This study revealed that the proposed new PWM actuation signal with a 5 kHz frequency and 60% duty cycle can power the MR brake to maintain steady torque. By turning hysteresis into an advantage, it saves 40% power consumption of MR brake compared to DC signal.

Analysis and experimental research on stability characteristics of squatting posture of wearable lower limb exoskeleton robot

Aiming at the problems of complex movement posture, many degrees of freedom and flexible movement of the human body’s lower limbs, a dynamic mathematical model of the squat posture was established, and analyzed the dynamic parameters of the hip joint, knee joint and ankle joint during the squatting posture of the wearable lower extremity exoskeleton robot. Based on the MATLAB simulation software, the motion characteristics of the squat posture are simulated and analyzed, and the results show that: in the process of squatting, the theoretical calculation results are quite different from the simulation results, indicating that the process of squatting is unstable. Therefore, based on the Zero Moment Point (ZMP) theory, a stable polygon of the squat posture is established, the instability rate is defined. From a qualitative and quantitative point of view, the effects of the squat posture and the change of the center of gravity (COG) on the motion stability are analyzed. An experimental platform was built and the experiment was performed to verify the COG and ZMP changes in the squatting posture, which verified the correctness of the theoretical calculation conclusions and the influence of COG changes on ZMP.

The recent development of 3D printing in developing lower-leg exoskeleton: A review

The research in wearable lower limb exoskeletons is showing an increasing interest in the last few years. An exoskeleton is a structure that helps paralyzed patients stand and walk. Nowadays, wearable exoskeletons have a growing interest in healthcare, as they help make patient's rehabilitation process more comfortable and more natural. External exoskeletons help people recover after accidents; they may help older people keep their habitual lives. Besides, they can be used for constructors, army soldiers, and workers to reduce the possibility of a work injury, making the work process less painful and tiring as they help distribute the load evenly. This review paper presents current techniques and methods implemented in medical rehabilitation. The work briefly describes the main types of medical exoskeletons, their technical characteristics, main features, and the detailed connection to the area's existing trends. The study also focused on the development of 3D printed leg exoskeletons, their drawbacks, fabricating challenges, and prospects. Various methods that are being developed may influence and increase the potential of 3D printed leg exoskeletons for biomedical applications. The application of 3D printing in rehabilitation opens the opportunity to decrease the weight and the development cost of the exoskeletons, as well as make human rehabilitation more affordable.

Wearable Lower-Limb Exoskeleton for Children With Cerebral Palsy: A Systematic Review of Mechanical Design, Actuation Type, Control Strategy, and Clinical Evaluation.

Children with a neurological disorder such as cerebral palsy (CP) severely suffer from a reduced quality of life because of decreasing independence and mobility. Although there is no cure yet, a lower-limb exoskeleton (LLE) has considerable potential to help these children experience better mobility during overground walking. The research in wearable exoskeletons for children with CP is still at an early stage. This paper shows that the number of published papers on LLEs assisting children with CP has significantly increased in recent years; however, no research has been carried out to review these studies systematically. To fill up this research gap, a systematic review from a technical and clinical perspective has been conducted, based on the PRISMA guidelines, under three extended topics associated with "lower limb", "exoskeleton", and "cerebral palsy" in the databases Scopus and Web of Science. After applying several exclusion criteria, seventeen articles focused on fifteen LLEs were included for careful consideration. These studies address some consistent positive evidence on the efficacy of LLEs in improving gait patterns in children with CP. Statistical findings show that knee exoskeletons, brushless DC motors, the hierarchy control architecture, and CP children with spastic diplegia are, respectively, the most common mechanical design, actuator type, control strategy, and clinical characteristics for these LLEs. Clinical studies suggest ankle-foot orthosis as the primary medical solution for most CP gait patterns; nevertheless, only one motorized ankle exoskeleton has been developed. This paper shows that more research and contribution are needed to deal with open challenges in these LLEs.

Human-in-the-Loop Control of a Wearable Lower Limb Exoskeleton for Stable Dynamic Walking

Exoskeletons are increasingly used to assist humans in military, industry, and healthcare applications, thereby enabling individuals to gain increased strength and endurance. This article proposes a novel human-in-the-loop control framework for a fully actuated lower limb exoskeleton with high degree-of-freedoms (DoFs), allowing users to walk without crutches or other external stabilization tools. To imitate the natural lower limb motion of users, a novel barrier energy function is utilized for the design of the control strategy, where the human-robot manipulation space is reformulated as a human-voluntary and a robot-constrained region. The variations in the barrier energy function are based on the distance between the center of mass and zero moment point of the walking exoskeleton, thereby constraining the lower limb motion of the user to a compliant region around various desired trajectories. Based on varying regional functions, the proposed strategy is designed to control the exoskeleton to follow appropriate ergonomic trajectories. For such a purpose, an adaptive controller is exploited considering the functions of the human effort and the robot's capabilities simultaneously, and a smooth motion transition can be achieved between the human and robot regions. Finally, physical experiments are conducted on a ten-DoFs walking exoskeleton to validate the stability and robustness of the proposed control framework with subjects performing flat walking, turning, and obstacle avoidance movements.

Analysis of Human-Exoskeleton System Interaction for Ergonomic Design.

Lower-limb exoskeleton systems are defined as gait training or walking-assisting devices for spinal cord injury or hemiplegic patients. Crutches, straps, and baffles are designed to protect subjects from falling. However, skin abrasions occur when the interaction forces are too large. In this study, the interaction forces between the human body and an exoskeleton system named the AIDER were measured to confirm whether the design was ergonomic. The AIDER system is a wearable lower-limb exoskeleton. It secures a subject by binding on the waist, thighs, shanks, and feet. Eight healthy subjects participated in the study. The interaction forces of the waist strap, thigh baffles, shank baffles, and crutch handles were measured by pressure sensors. Ten repetitions were completed in this study. After one repetition, custom comfort questionnaires were completed by the subjects. Although a few of the peak values of the maximum intensities of pressure between the hands and crutch handles reached the minimum value of the pain-pressure threshold (PPT), the average pressure intensities were much smaller than the PPT value. The results indicated that the mechanical structure and control strategy of the AIDER must be improved to be more ergonomic in the future.

Study on the influence of wearable lower limb exoskeleton on gait characteristics

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the effects of wearable lower limb exoskeletons on the kinematics and kinetic parameters of the lower extremity joints and muscles during normal walking, aiming to provide scientific basis for optimizing its structural design and improving its system performance. We collected the walking data of subjects without lower limb exoskeleton and selected the joint angles in sagittal plane of human lower limbs as driving data for lower limb exoskeleton simulation analysis. Anybody (the human biomechanical analysis software) was used to establish the human body model (the human body model without lower limb exoskeleton) and the man-machine system model (the lower limb exoskeleton model). The kinematics parameters (joint force and joint moment) and muscle parameters (muscle strength, muscle activation, muscle contraction velocity and muscle length) under two situations were compared. The experimental result shows that walking gait after wearing the lower limb exoskeleton meets the normal gait, but there would be an occasional and sudden increase in muscle strength. The max activation level of main lower limb muscles were all not exceeding 1, in another word the muscles did not appear fatigue and injury. The highest increase activation level occurred in rectus femoris (0.456), and the lowest increase activation level occurred in semitendinosus (0.013), which means the lower limb exoskeletons could lead to the fatigue and injury of semitendinosus. The results of this study illustrate that to avoid the phenomenon of sudden increase of individual muscle force, the consistency between the length of body segment and the length of exoskeleton rod should be considered in the design of lower limb exoskeleton extremity.

BIO-BASED SUPERVISORY CONTROL OF A LOWER EXOSKELETON FOR STANCE PHASE

This paper presents a newly supervisory impedance control strategy of a wearable lower limb exoskeleton in stance phase intended to enhance human performance and support load-carrying using biomechanical analysis. In order to control the coupled human-robot system, the impedance control strategy, previously developed by the authors for swing phase, has been herein expanded up to the stance phase by regulating the desired impedance between the exoskeleton and a wearer's limb according to a specific motion speed. The effect of human behaviours on the change of impedance parameters across variable walking speeds in the stance phase is adopted to design the fuzzy rules for the control strategy. The control performance of the designed exoskeleton is evaluated on a bench-testing over different ranges of walking speeds (about 0.3 m/s to 1.2 m/s). Experimental results show that the resulting interaction torque, the human-exoskeleton tracking error, and electrical power consumption are significantly reduced as compared to a traditional impedance control, especially in the stance phase. Besides that, an average of 72.3 % of the load was transferred to the ground by the exoskeleton during the stance phase of walking. The developed control strategy on the lower exoskeleton has the potential to increase comfort and adaptation to users during daily use.

A NOVEL CABLE-PULLEY UNDERACTUATED LOWER LIMB EXOSKELETON FOR HUMAN LOAD-CARRYING WALKING

Wearable lower limb exoskeleton has comprehensive applications such as load-carrying augmentation, walking assistance, and rehabilitation training by using many active actuators in the joints to reduce the metabolic cost generally. The traditional fully actuated exoskeleton is bulky and requires large energy consumption, and the passive exoskeleton is difficult to provide effective power assistance. To achieve both small number of actuators and good assisting performance, this paper proposes a cable-pulley underactuated principle-based lower limb exoskeleton. The exoskeleton dynamics was modeled and the human-exoskeleton hybrid model was analyzed via ADAMS and LifeMOD to provide an evaluation method for power assistance. By exploiting the control strategy and utilizing the synergies of torque and power assistance, the hip joint and the knee joint can be actuated by a single cable simultaneously. Moreover, the human-exoskeleton co-simulation method was utilized to verify the assisting performance and control effect. In this simulation, the upper toque peak and power required by human are obviously reduced by power assistance and the joint angle curves without exoskeleton are in accordance with the joint angle curves with exoskeleton almost. In conclusion, the designed exoskeleton is compatible with human motion and feasible to provide effective power assistance in load-carrying walking.

The effectiveness of powered, active lower limb exoskeletons in neurorehabilitation: A systematic review.

This review examines the utility of current active, powered, wearable lower limb exoskeletons as aids to rehabilitation in paraplegic patients with gait disorders resulting from central nervous system lesions. The PRISMA guidelines were used to review literature on the use of powered and active lower limb exoskeletons for neurorehabilitative training in paraplegic subjects retrieved in a search of the electronic databases PubMed, EBSCO, Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, and Google Scholar. We reviewed 27 studies published between 2001 and 2014, involving a total of 144 participants from the USA, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Israel, Italy, and Spain. Seventy percent of the studies were experimental tests of safety or efficacy and 29% evaluated rehabilitative effectiveness through uncontrolled (22%) or controlled (7%) clinical trials. Exoskeletons provide a safe and practical method of neurorehabilitation which is not physically exhausting and makes minimal demands on working memory. It is easy to learn to use an exoskeleton and they increase mobility, improve functioning and reduce the risk of secondary injury by reinstating a more normal gait pattern. A limitation of the field is the lack of experimental methods for demonstrating the relative effectiveness of the exoskeleton in comparison with other rehabilitative techniques and technologies.

Evaluation of a Fuzzy-Based Impedance Control Strategy on a Powered Lower Exoskeleton

This paper comprehensively presents the analysis, design, and control of a wearable lower limb exoskeleton intended to enhance human performance and support load-carrying. The exoskeleton is powered at hip and knee joints to provide maximum joint torques of 74 Nm for the joint flexion/extension augmentation and load support. Typical issues regarding the implementation of the exoskeleton, such as mechanical design, sensory system, distributed embedded system, and high-speed networked control architecture are briefly presented. In order to control the coupled human-robot system, a new fuzzy-based impedance control strategy, previously developed by the authors, is used to provide assistive torques by regulating the desired impedance between the exoskeleton and a wearer’s limb according to a specific motion speed. The effect of human behaviours on the change of impedance parameters across variable walking speeds is adopted to design the fuzzy rules for the control strategy. As a result, the fuzzy-based impedance regulation is separately designed for swing and stance walking phases to adapt to the change. The control performance of the designed exoskeleton evaluated on a bench-testing over different ranges of walking speeds (about 0.3–1.2 m/s) have demonstrated that, resulting interaction torque, human-exoskeleton tracking error, and electrical power consumption are significantly reduced as compared to a traditional impedance control. Besides that, an average of 72.3 % of the load is transferred to the ground by the exoskeleton during the stance phase of walking. The developed control strategy on the lower exoskeleton has the potential to increase comfort and adaptation to users during daily use.

Analysis of the human interaction with a wearable lower-limb exoskeleton

The design of a wearable robotic exoskeleton needs to consider the interaction, either physical or cognitive, between the human user and the robotic device. This paper presents a method to analyse the interaction between the human user and a unilateral, wearable lower-limb exoskeleton. The lower-limb exoskeleton function was to compensate for muscle weakness around the knee joint. It is shown that the cognitive interaction is bidirectional; on the one hand, the robot gathered information from the sensors in order to detect human actions, such as the gait phases, but the subjects also modified their gait patterns to obtain the desired responses from the exoskeleton. The results of the two-phase evaluation of learning with healthy subjects and experiments with a patient case are presented, regarding the analysis of the interaction, assessed in terms of kinematics, kinetics and/or muscle recruitment. Human-driven response of the exoskeleton after training revealed the improvements in the use of the device, while particular modifications of motion patterns were observed in healthy subjects. Also, endurance mechanical tests provided criteria to perform experiments with one post-polio patient. The results with the post-polio patient demonstrate the feasibility of providing gait compensation by means of the presented wearable exoskeleton, designed with a testing procedure that involves the human users to assess the human-robot interaction.

Analysis of the Human Interaction with a Wearable Lower-Limb Exoskeleton

The design of a wearable robotic exoskeleton needs to consider the interaction, either physical or cognitive, between the human user and the robotic device. This paper presents a method to analyse the interaction between the human user and a unilateral, wearable lower-limb exoskeleton. The lower-limb exoskeleton function was to compensate for muscle weakness around the knee joint. It is shown that the cognitive interaction is bidirectional; on the one hand, the robot gathered information from the sensors in order to detect human actions, such as the gait phases, but the subjects also modified their gait patterns to obtain the desired responses from the exoskeleton. The results of the two-phase evaluation of learning with healthy subjects and experiments with a patient case are presented, regarding the analysis of the interaction, assessed in terms of kinematics, kinetics and/or muscle recruitment. Human-driven response of the exoskeleton after training revealed the improvements in the use of the device, while particular modifications of motion patterns were observed in healthy subjects. Also, endurance (mechanical) tests provided criteria to perform experiments with one post-polio patient. The results with the post-polio patient demonstrate the feasibility of providing gait compensation by means of the presented wearable exoskeleton, designed with a testing procedure that involves the human users to assess the human-robot interaction.