Title :
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
fDate :
Aug. 30 2011-Sept. 3 2011
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;
Conference_Titel :
Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBC, 2011 Annual International Conference of the IEEE
Conference_Location :
Boston, MA
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-4121-1
Electronic_ISBN :
1557-170X
DOI :
10.1109/IEMBS.2011.6090583
