Environment Feedback for Robotic Walking Support System Control

This paper proposes a control approach for an active robotic walking support system based on environment feedback. The support system is controlled using imposed apparent dynamics and its parameters are varied by the environment information. The environment information will not cause any motion but will only change the characteristics or maneuverability of the support system. This approach leads to a passive behavior for an active walking support system. In addition, the stability of the support system based on the apparent dynamics is also discussed. This is important as a guideline on what parameters to vary that will not cause instability to the system. Experimental results are presented to show the validity of the control algorithm with environment feedback.