CAREER: Biologically-Inspired Actuation and Control of Robotic Above-Knee Prostheses

沈阳1351520概述：这份职业计划中的研究解决了新兴动力膝上(AK)假体领域的两个基本问题--驱动和控制--采用创新的生物启发的机器人方法。其目的是为动力AK假体提供足够的功率输出、长时间的工作时间和可靠的意志控制能力，使其能够在截肢者的日常生活中使用。通过解决这些根本问题，该项目将为PI的长期研究目标奠定坚实的基础，即创造出功能和外观与生物肢体相当的电动假肢，使截肢者能够像健康人一样享受生活。这项提案中的教育活动旨在通过一系列活动产生协同效应，这一系列活动的共同主题是“使用机器人帮助残疾人！”这些活动将为PI的长期教育目标奠定基础，即创建一个综合了多个层次(研究生、本科和K-12)教育和研究的机器人教育计划，重点是招募、留住和指导残疾学生。智力优势：尽管最近技术进步，但大多数最先进的AK假体仍然没有动力。生物力学研究表明，这些装置无法恢复正常的运动功能。本项目的研究旨在通过一种新颖的化学-流体套筒肌肉驱动系统来实现电动AK假体，该系统相对于传统的电池-直流电机系统具有显著的优势。这一新系统中的执行器，套筒肌肉执行器，与直流电机相比提供了更高的功率密度(至少高出10倍)。它还可以使用一种创新的设计理念--将关节执行器与承重结构相结合--从而有可能制造出适合日常使用的高度紧凑的AK假体。新系统还采用了一种新的储能介质，即单推进剂，为AK假体提供充足的能量供应。作为一种独特的液体燃料，单推进剂通过催化反应(而不是燃烧)释放能量。安全的反应产物氧气和水蒸气可直接作为高压工质驱动套筒肌肉执行器。因此，单推进剂可以构成高度紧凑的气动供应的基础，以支持动力AK假体所需的长时间操作。新的驱动系统将与一种新的假肢控制方法相辅相成，即容错肌电直接控制。这种新的方法通过肌电(EMG)提供的神经接口实现了对假体的意志(即根据意图)控制。此外，为了解决肌电接口的可靠性问题，建立了容错控制结构，在肌电发生故障时对控制器进行重新配置。因此，这种新的方法有望允许使用者根据他或她的意图控制假体，同时避免控制器完全故障带来的危险，如摔倒和由此造成的伤害。广泛影响：目前，美国有超过40万名AK截肢者，预计到2050年这一数字将翻一番。这项拟议的研究有可能通过显著改善这些截肢者的行动能力和生活质量而造福社会。此外，在国际学生联合会正在进行的教育努力的基础上，该项目将通过将研究融入教育来开展新的教育活动。这些活动包括：(1)为招收、保留和指导残疾学生制定全面计划；(2)促进工程学和假肢矫形学研究生教育，努力缩小生物医学工程研究与临床实践之间的差距；(3)通过一个多年期研究项目促进本科生研究，旨在为科学博物馆开发一个机械臂展览；(4)与世界上第一所获得STEAM认证的小学合作，推广以机器人为主题的科学和工程学。

Shen1351520Overview: The research in this CAREER proposal addresses two fundamental issues in the emerging powered above-knee (AK) prosthetics area -- Actuation and Control -- with innovative biologically-inspired robotic approaches. The objective is to provide sufficient power output, long duration of operation, and reliable volitional control capability for powered AK prostheses to enable their use in the amputee users- daily life. By addressing these fundamental issues, this project will lay a solid foundation for the PI's long-term research goal of creating powered prosthetic devices with comparable functionality and appearance as biological limbs, so that amputee patients can enjoy life like healthy persons. The educational activities in this proposal aim to generate a synergistic impact with a series of activities under a common theme of "Using Robotics to Help Persons with Disabilities!" These activities will build a basis for the PI's long-term education goal of creating a comprehensive robotics education program that integrates education and research on multiple levels (graduate, undergraduate, and K-12), with the emphasis on recruiting, retaining, and mentoring students with disabilities.Intellectual Merit: Despite recent technological advances, the majority of state-of-the-art AK prostheses are still unpowered. Biomechanical studies show that these devices are unable to restore the normal locomotive functions. The research in this project aims at bringing powered AK prostheses to reality with a novel chemo-fluidic sleeve muscle actuation system, which provides a significant advantage relative to the traditional battery-DC motor system. The actuator in this new system, sleeve muscle actuator, provides a superior power density compared with DC motor (at least 10 times higher). It also enables the use of an innovative design philosophy - integrating joint actuator with load bearing structure -- and thus can potentially generate a highly compact AK prosthesis suitable for daily use. The new system also incorporates a new energy-storing medium, namely monopropellant, to provide ample energy supply for the AK prosthesis. As a unique class of liquid fuel, monopropellant releases energy through catalytic reaction (instead of combustion). The safe reaction products, oxygen and water steam, can be used directly as the high-pressure working fluid to drive the sleeve muscle actuator. As such, monopropellant can form the basis of a highly compact pneumatic supply to support the desired long duration of operation for powered AK prostheses. The new actuation system will be complemented with a novel prosthesis control approach, namely fault-tolerant EMG direct control. This new approach enables volitional (i.e., according-to-the-intent) control of the prosthesis through the neural interface provided by electromyography (EMG). Furthermore, to address the reliability issue of EMG interface, a fault-tolerant control structure will be created, which reconfigures the controller in the event of EMG failure. As such, this novel approach is anticipated to allow the user to control the prosthesis according to his or her intention while avoiding the hazards from a complete controller failure, such as falling and the resulting injuries.Broader Impacts: Currently, there are more than 400,000 AK amputees in the U.S., and this number is expected to double by 2050. The proposed research has the potential to benefit society by significantly improving these amputees' mobility and quality of life. Furthermore, based on the PI's ongoing educational efforts, new education activities will be conducted in this project by integrating research into education. These activities include: (1) Establish a comprehensive plan for the recruitment, retention, and mentoring of students with disabilities; (2) Contribute to graduate education in both engineering and prosthetics & orthotics with the efforts towards bridging the gap between biomedical engineering research and clinical practice; (3) Promote undergraduate research with a multi-year research project aiming at developing a robotic arm exhibit for a science museum; (4) Outreach into K-12 education system to promote science and engineering with robotics-themed activities, collaborating with the first STEAM-accredited elementary school in the world.