Quantifying the human-robot interaction forces between a lower limb exoskeleton and healthy users

Rathore, Ashish; Wilcox, Matthew; Ramírez, Dafne Zuleima Morgado; Loureiro, Rui; Carlson, Tom

doi:10.1109/embc.2016.7590770

Cited by 54 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Moreover, it is important not only to develop safety measures, but also to verify safety of the device after the intervention experiment. In studies that developed a wearable physical assistive robot, skin injury resulting from excessive rubbing between the cuff of the robot and the surface of the skin was con rmed in intervention experiments [13,14]. In the present study, we con rmed that no skin injury occurred between the seat and buttocks, and that the users did not experience any pain while using the system [1,8].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

Developing Safety Measures for a Wheelchair-Compatible Physical Assistive System with Sit-To-Stand Movement Support

Shiraishi

Sankai

2018

ABE

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The safety of physically disabled persons must be considered during the initial developmental stages of a rehabilitative or assistive device to prevent death or injury. Thus, in the research eld of biomedical engineering, researchers specializing in physical assistive system development must take the initiative to ensure user safety. This paper proposes methods to plan and implement safety measures for physical assistive systems, using a wheelchair-compatible system with sit-to-stand (STS) movement support as an example. To promote daily independent active exercise and motor learning with progressively less assistance from specialists, the support system does not require the attachment of any device or sensor onto the user s body. To ensure safety, we rst identi ed the possible dangers of injury or other potential hazards involved in STS movement support. Next, we developed safety measures to prevent all the identi ed dangers of injury and hazards. The steps taken to develop these safety measures were submitted for ethical review. Finally, we con rmed the effectiveness of the safety measures developed by conducting fundamental and realistic experiments. The safety measures described in this paper were developed for the STS support system, but the method used to identify the required safety measures can be implemented in the development of any physical assistive system. The proposed method will help engineers to improve the safety of rehabilitative and assistive devices.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

Developing Safety Measures for a Wheelchair-Compatible Physical Assistive System with Sit-To-Stand Movement Support

Shiraishi

Sankai

2018

ABE

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“…The asterisks represent statistically significant differences (p < 0.005). Adapted from [10] correlation, one can postulate that the interaction forces can be attributed to the muscular activity of the participant. On the other hand, muscle/force pairs that have little correlation one can perhaps attribute the interaction forces at such positions to the movement of the exoskeleton.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such studies have investigated EMG activity with the view of developing a user intention based algorithm for the control of the exoskeleton [11,12]. However, this knowledge has been largely developed away from the complex physical human-robot interactions that have been highlighted in a number of studies [9,10]. Hence, this study presents suitable experimental protocols and data to extend the findings of [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Four force sensors were placed at each of the four c-shaped braces/orthosis (two thigh braces and two leg braces): medially, laterally and posteriorly on the brace, and one anteriorly by interfacing with the strap (16 FSRs in total). This study extended the methodology presented in [10] to include EMG analysis such that muscle/ force pairs could be identified for further investigation of the peak interaction forces found at the pHRI.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Muscular activity and physical interaction forces during lower limb exoskeleton use

Wilcox

Rathore

Ramírez

et al. 2016

Healthcare Technology Letters

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Spinal cord injury (SCI) typically manifests with a loss of sensorimotor control of the lower limbs. In order to overcome some of the disadvantages of chronic wheelchair use by such patients, robotic exoskeletons are an emerging technology that has the potential to transform the lives of patients. However, there are a number of points of contact between the robot and the user, which lead to interaction forces. In a recent study, the authors have shown that peak interaction forces are particularly prominent at the anterior aspect of the right leg. This study uses a similar experimental protocol with additional electromyography (EMG) analysis to examine whether such interaction forces are due to the muscular activity of the participant or the movement of the exoskeleton itself. Interestingly, the authors found that peak forces preceded peak EMG activity. This study did not find a significant correlation between EMG activity and force data, which would indicate that the interaction forces can largely be attributed to the movement of the exoskeleton itself. However, we also report significantly higher correlation coefficients in muscle/force pairs located at the anterior aspect of the right leg. In their previous research, the authors have shown peak interaction forces at the same locations, which suggests that muscular activity of the participant makes a more significant contribution to the interaction forces at these locations. The findings of this study are of significance for incomplete SCI patients, for whom EMG activity may provide an important input to an intuitive control schema.

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“…Understanding how a person physically interacts with rigid linkages becomes important especially for exoskeleton devices controlled by interaction forces only. Lower limb exoskeletons are usually developed for assisting standing and for walking, which is cyclic movement constrained by the ground and repetitive, rather stereotyped stance and swing phases of gait [9]. In contrast, arm rehabilitation training by upper limb exoskeletons must have more flexibility in protocol design to achieve reaching and grasping at a variety of locations in peripersonal space.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetric Dual Arm Approach For Post Stroke Recovery Of Motor Functions Utilizing The EXO-UL8 Exoskeleton System: A Pilot Study

Shen

Dobkin

et al. 2018

2018 40th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC)

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In a dual arm therapeutic regime aiming to rehabilitate motor functions post stroke, both the affected arm (paretic) and the unaffected (non-paretic) arm are involved. In this context, the leading idea is that motor functions of the affected arm during a reaching task may be improved if the unaffected arm has already reached the target. As part of this pilot study, one chronic post-stroke patient with weakness and spasticity on his right arm conducted reaching tasks to virtual targets arranged in a 5×3 matrix located parallel to his frontal plane, in two different configurations: (1) affected arm only (without assistance from the exoskeleton); (2) unaffected arm first followed by the affected arm (2a) without, and (2b) with assistance. A force field attracting the wrist of the affected arm to the target was used in the assistive mode. The data post-processing and analysis included task completion time, reachable task space, joint range of motion, human-robot interaction force/torque and power exchange at multiple sensors along the arm-visualized in a series of interaction maps. The data validated the robotic system's basic functionality in facilitating post-stroke unilateral and asymmetric bilateral training. Future work would be expanded to clinical trials with more subjects to be recruited and additional features to be implemented.

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Quantifying the human-robot interaction forces between a lower limb exoskeleton and healthy users

Cited by 54 publications

References 15 publications

Developing Safety Measures for a Wheelchair-Compatible Physical Assistive System with Sit-To-Stand Movement Support

Developing Safety Measures for a Wheelchair-Compatible Physical Assistive System with Sit-To-Stand Movement Support

Muscular activity and physical interaction forces during lower limb exoskeleton use

Asymmetric Dual Arm Approach For Post Stroke Recovery Of Motor Functions Utilizing The EXO-UL8 Exoskeleton System: A Pilot Study

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