Exoskeletons have become increasingly popular due to their potential to enhance or assist human capabilities across various industries, such as manufacturing and healthcare. Lower-extremity powered exoskeletons are driven by controllers that store commands to assist the user. However, they still have their own unique set of complexities and unknowns. It needs to be determined how changes in exoskeleton control parameters can affect human-exoskeleton coordination. Changes in exoskeleton parameters, such as ankle timing and quasi-stiffness, can influence gait characteristics and muscle activation, affecting human performance. This research aims to develop a new exoskeleton controller for the Dephy ExoBoot to modify the torque profile's rise and fall time (exoskeleton parameters) and evaluate people’s sensitivity to the changes and associated changes in gait characteristics. The Dephy ExoBoot provides torque/assistance at the push-off during the stance phase of the gait cycle. To provide the assistance, the actuator produces a torque about the ankle joint by spooling an inelastic belt that is rigidly attached to the exoskeleton’s lever arm. The results from this pilot study will provide a preliminary understanding of human perception towards changes in exoskeleton control parameters, which offers insight into individual preferences and differences in exoskeleton usage and informs exoskeleton precision requirements to maximize human-system interaction, improving human performance.
Improving Human-Exoskeleton Coordination through Modification of the Torque’s Rise and Fall Time Control Parameters in Powered Ankle Exoskeleton
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Student Abstract Submission