Series elastic actuator control of a powered exoskeleton

Author

Ragonesi, Daniel ; Agrawal, Sunil ; Sample, Whitney ; Rahman, Tariq

Author_Institution

Dept. of Mech. Eng., Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA

fYear

2011

fDate

Aug. 30 2011-Sept. 3 2011

Firstpage

3515

Lastpage

3518

Abstract

A motorized upper extremity orthosis based on the passive WREX system is being developed. The orthosis is a 4 dof arm controlled by user residual force inputs. The arm is intended for people with neuromuscular weakness due to muscular dystrophy or spinal muscular atrophy. Previous work determined that actuation in parallel with gravity balancing springs required less torque than actuation in series. Compliance is achieved by using a series elastic actuator (SEA) by placing torsional springs between the motors and the WREX. A torque control was implemented on the SEA at the joint level. The response of the control law was characterized without disturbances. The SEAs were then attached to the orthosis to test the response with disturbances, and the control provided accurate joint torques.

Keywords

actuators; bone; manipulators; medical robotics; muscle; orthopaedics; patient rehabilitation; prosthetics; torque control; dof arm control; gravity balancing springs; muscular dystrophy; neuromuscularity; orthosis; passive WREX system; powered exoskeleton; residual force inputs; series elastic actuator control; spinal muscular atrophy; torque control; Actuators; DC motors; Joints; Robots; Torque; Torque control; USA Councils; Arm; Elasticity; Gravitation; Humans; Muscular Atrophy, Spinal; Muscular Dystrophies; Prosthesis Design;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBC, 2011 Annual International Conference of the IEEE

Conference_Location

Boston, MA

ISSN

1557-170X

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-4121-1

Electronic_ISBN

1557-170X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IEMBS.2011.6090583

Filename

6090583