The Effect of Hip Assistance Levels on Human Energetic Cost Using Robotic Hip Exoskeletons
The Effect of Hip Assistance Levels on Human Energetic Cost Using Robotic Hip Exoskeletons
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DOI：
10.1109/lra.2019.2890896
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发表时间：
2019-04-01
影响因子：
5.2
通讯作者：
Young, Aaron
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Kang, Inseung;Hsu, Hsiang;Young, Aaron
为了使下肢外骨骼实现其巨大的潜力，需要更好地了解最佳辅助性能。虽然其他人已经显示出积极的结果，但外骨骼如何与人类相互作用的基本问题仍然未知。了解最佳辅助幅度不仅与控制相关，而且是外骨骼设计师的关键知识。对辅助水平的准确理解将使设计师能够通过避免过多的致动器和传动系统来最大限度地减少外骨骼质量并提高性能。我们探讨了援助幅度和能源成本效益之间的关系，通过使用一系列的弹性驱动器驱动的动力髋外骨骼。外骨骼控制器模仿人类生物髋部力矩以在步态周期期间提供辅助。十个健全的科目走使用外骨骼与不同程度的援助，在髋关节屈曲和伸展。通常，在不同辅助条件下产生的代谢成本显示出U形趋势，这在所有受试者中是一致的（p < 0.01）。通过二次拟合解释的最佳辅助点导致相对于无辅助条件的6%的代谢成本降低。这项研究证实，仅仅增加援助水平并不能产生更高的能量回报。
In order for the lower limb exoskeletons to realize their considerable potential, a greater understanding of optimal assistive performance is required. While others have shown positive results, the fundamental question of how the exoskeleton interacts with the human remains unknown. Understanding the optimal assistance magnitude is not simply relevant for control, it is a critical knowledge for exoskeleton designers. An accurate understanding of assistance levels will enable the designers to minimize exoskeleton mass and improve the performance by avoiding excessive actuators and drivetrains. We explored the relationship between the assistance magnitude and the energetic cost benefits by using a series elastic actuator driven powered hip exoskeleton. The exoskeleton controller mimics a human biological hip moment to provide the assistance during the gait cycle. Ten able-bodied subjects walked using the exoskeleton with different magnitudes of assistance in both hip flexion and extension. Generally, the resulting metabolic cost across different assistance conditions showed a U-shape trend which was consistent across all subjects (p < 0.01). The interpreted optimal assistance point through the quadratic fit resulted in a 6% metabolic cost reduction with respect to the noassistance condition. The study validated that simply increasing the assistance level did not yield higher energetic return.