Intelligent Device for Control of Active Ankle-Foot Orthosis

Abstract

The main aim of this research is the development of an autonomous adaptive system for actuation, data acquisition and control of active ankle-foot orthosis. The system is composed by microcontroller, driver and sensor system, which application is to actuate and position the foot orthotic segment, as well as data acquisition, communication and friendly oriented software for interpretation of the data obtained during the walking. The research work combines hardware and software design of the intelligent control device with graphical interface for representation and analysis of the data acquired during human motion. A laboratory model of the proposed system was implemented to demonstrate its autonomy and verify experimentally its functionality. The proposed control device can be used in several applications involving human motion analysis and control of different types of orthoses used for gait correction.

Propulsion System With Pneumatic Artificial Muscles for Powering Ankle-Foot Orthosis

“…A several tests were performed, at which a muscle moves up and down a load of 1 kg by a slow varying gauge pressure between 1 and 3 bars. The Control algorithm is based on the biomechanical interpretation of the locomotion [21,22]. Within a given walking cycle, four distinct positions were used corresponding to the phases: heel strike, stance, toe-off and swing.…”

“…We simulate the model in Inverse Dynamics mode in SimMechanics MATLAB to compute the joint torque required to rotate the foot in desired position. During the simulation the geometry of the orthosis is presented as a double pendulum [22]. The joint Fig.…”

A simple and inexpensive vertical deformation measurement system for soil compression tests

“…The linear potentiometer was applied to control the position of linear pneumatics actuator in industrial automation [8,9]. In addition to measure rotation [10], various applications of the rotary potentiometer are found in the fields of medical technology [11,12], agriculture such as tractors [13], tracking system [14], robots [15,16], control systems [17], satellite system [18], the steering wheel [19], pneumatic system [20], automotive [21], etc.…”

Fuzzy logic control for active ankle foot orthosis

“…The tactile sensors, voice-coil actuators, position transducers and microcontrollers are used in the control system of active AFO. PID controller is used to control the actuation [8]. Gait analysis is made by placing a dorsiflexion assist spring on a more flexible AFO to lift the foot [9][10][11].…”