Robot and FES technology for augmenting standing-up and sitting-down capabilities

In this paper, a technology for facilitating the standing-up and sitting-down maneuvers in paraplegia is presented. A novel closed loop FES control approach is proposed and implemented in commercially available Stanmore stimulator. Furthermore, a robot assistive device is presented aimed for providing posture stability and additional support in FES training. The robot device is driven by an electrohydraulic servosystem capable to operate in a position or in force control mode. The experimental results proved that the device can be efficiently used for training and evaluation of standing-up and sitting-down maneuvers. Moreover, an algorithm is proposed which incorporates the subject\´s voluntary activity into the robot control scheme. The simulation results proved an adequate and robust performance. In this manner, the robot device can be utilized in the "robot driven" or the "patient driven" training.