Title
Virtual Constraint Control of a Powered Prosthetic Leg: From Simulation to Experiments with Transfemoral Amputees.
Abstract
Recent powered (or robotic) prosthetic legs independently control different joints and time periods of the gait cycle, resulting in control parameters and switching rules that can be difficult to tune by clinicians. This challenge might be addressed by a unifying control model used by recent bipedal robots, in which virtual constraints define joint patterns as functions of a monotonic variable that continuously represents the gait cycle phase. In the first application of virtual constraints to amputee locomotion, this paper derives exact and approximate control laws for a partial feedback linearization to enforce virtual constraints on a prosthetic leg. We then encode a human-inspired invariance property called effective shape into virtual constraints for the stance period. After simulating the robustness of the partial feedback linearization to clinically meaningful conditions, we experimentally implement this control strategy on a powered transfemoral leg. We report the results of three amputee subjects walking overground and at variable cadences on a treadmill, demonstrating the clinical viability of this novel control approach.
Year
DOI
Venue
2014
10.1109/TRO.2014.2361937
IEEE Transactions on Robotics
Keywords
DocType
Volume
Prosthetics,Legged locomotion,Rehabilitation robotics,Robot control,Control systems
Journal
30
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
6
1552-3098
8
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.55
7
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Robert D. Gregg117320.24
Tommaso Lenzi232031.24
Levi J Hargrove343842.47
Jonathon W. Sensinger4506.94