For your doctor to determine if this could help you. That does assume your doctor and stroke hospital are keeping up with research.
a Biomechanical comparison of Proportional electromyography control to Biological Torque control Using a Powered hip exoskeleton
June 2017 | Volume 5 | Article 37
1ORIGINAL RESEARCH
published: 30 June 2017doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2017.00037Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology | www.frontiersin.org
Edited by:
Jan Veneman, Tecnalia, Spain
Reviewed by:
Laurent Simon, New Jersey Institute of Technology, United States Fausto Antonio Panizzolo, Harvard University, United States
*Correspondence:
Aaron J. Young aaron.young@me.gatech.edu
Specialty section:
This article was submitted to Bionics and Biomimetics, a section of the journal Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
Received:
08 July 2016
Accepted:
06 June 2017
Published:
30 June 2017
Citation:
Young AJ, Gannon H and Ferris DP (2017) A Biomechanical Comparison of Proportional Electromyography Control to Biological Torque Control Using a Powered Hip Exoskeleton. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 5:37. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2017.00037
A Biomechanical Comparison of Proportional Electromyography Control to Biological Torque Control Using a Powered Hip Exoskeleton
Aaron J. Young 1*,
Hannah Gannon 2
and Daniel P. Ferris 2,3
1 Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States,
2 Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States,
3 School of Kinesiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
Background:
Despite a large increase in robotic exoskeleton research, there are few studies that have examined human performance with different control strategies on the same exoskeleton device. Direct comparison studies are needed to determine how users respond to different types of control. The purpose of this study was to compare user performance using a robotic hip exoskeleton with two different controllers: a controller that targeted a biological hip torque profile and a proportional myoelectric controller.
Methods:
We tested both control approaches on 10 able-bodied subjects using a pneu-matically powered hip exoskeleton. The state machine controller targeted a biological hip torque profile. The myoelectric controller used electromyography (EMG) of lower limb muscles to produce a proportional control signal for the hip exoskeleton. Each subject performed two 30-min exoskeleton walking trials (1.0 m/s) using each controller and a 10-min trial with the exoskeleton unpowered. During each trial, we measured subjects’ metabolic cost of walking, lower limb EMG profiles, and joint kinematics and kinetics (torques and powers) using a force treadmill and motion capture.
Results:
Compared to unassisted walking in the exoskeleton, myoelectric control significantly reduced metabolic cost by 13% (p= 0.005) and biological hip torque control reduced metabolic cost by 7% (p=0.261). Subjects reduced muscle activity relative to the unpowered condition for a greater number of lower limb muscles using myoelectric control compared to the biological hip torque control. More subjects subjectively preferred the myoelectric controller to the biological hip torque control.
Conclusion:
Myoelectric control had more advantages (metabolic cost and muscle activity reduction) compared to a controller that targeted a biological torque profile for walking with a robotic hip exoskeleton. However, these results were obtained with a single exoskeleton device with specific control configurations while level walking at a single speed. Further testing on different exoskeleton hardware and with more varied experimental protocols, such as testing over multiple types of terrain, is needed to fully elucidate the potential benefits of myoelectric control for exoskeleton technology.
1 Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States,
2 Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States,
3 School of Kinesiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
Background:
Despite a large increase in robotic exoskeleton research, there are few studies that have examined human performance with different control strategies on the same exoskeleton device. Direct comparison studies are needed to determine how users respond to different types of control. The purpose of this study was to compare user performance using a robotic hip exoskeleton with two different controllers: a controller that targeted a biological hip torque profile and a proportional myoelectric controller.
Methods:
We tested both control approaches on 10 able-bodied subjects using a pneu-matically powered hip exoskeleton. The state machine controller targeted a biological hip torque profile. The myoelectric controller used electromyography (EMG) of lower limb muscles to produce a proportional control signal for the hip exoskeleton. Each subject performed two 30-min exoskeleton walking trials (1.0 m/s) using each controller and a 10-min trial with the exoskeleton unpowered. During each trial, we measured subjects’ metabolic cost of walking, lower limb EMG profiles, and joint kinematics and kinetics (torques and powers) using a force treadmill and motion capture.
Results:
Compared to unassisted walking in the exoskeleton, myoelectric control significantly reduced metabolic cost by 13% (p= 0.005) and biological hip torque control reduced metabolic cost by 7% (p=0.261). Subjects reduced muscle activity relative to the unpowered condition for a greater number of lower limb muscles using myoelectric control compared to the biological hip torque control. More subjects subjectively preferred the myoelectric controller to the biological hip torque control.
Conclusion:
Myoelectric control had more advantages (metabolic cost and muscle activity reduction) compared to a controller that targeted a biological torque profile for walking with a robotic hip exoskeleton. However, these results were obtained with a single exoskeleton device with specific control configurations while level walking at a single speed. Further testing on different exoskeleton hardware and with more varied experimental protocols, such as testing over multiple types of terrain, is needed to fully elucidate the potential benefits of myoelectric control for exoskeleton technology.
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