A Biomimetic, Self Tuning, Fully Adaptable Smart Lower Limb Prosthetics with Energy Recovery

每年，数以千计的人因循环系统问题、糖尿病并发症或创伤等一系列因素而失去下肢。目前的假肢可分为三组：i)纯被动机械假肢，需要大量的自愿控制；ii)主动控制，测量肢体性能并改变参数以提高性能；iii)主动驱动或动力假肢，使用致动器将机械功直接输入到肢体。后一种装置没有考虑身体部件和假体之间的动态相互作用。因此，它们需要大量的能源，效率很低。因此，它们与人体并不和谐和协同。因此，需要一种结合主动和被动模式来模仿人体肌肉的新一代假肢。新一代的假肢应该具有即插即用的特性，并且肢体会根据当前的行走情况(水平、斜坡和楼梯)进行自我调整，以优化系统对用户的性能。在行走周期中，假肢将在向行走运动提供能量和在摆动阶段收集能量之间切换；延长电池功率和减轻电池负担。这个项目的目的是通过围绕以下活动构建的研究计划来设计和开发一种新型的智能假肢。1)使用身体轮毂传感器实时测量步态动态；2)使用与人体肢体连接的假肢集成传感器测量假肢使用过程中的反应负荷；3)估计用户意图并评估从假肢获得的触觉或其他形式的反馈的潜力，以提高其可用性；4)通过动态耦合和能量产生优化能量使用；以及5)与延长佩戴时间相关的肢体舒适性的改善。研究结果将是在使用与人体和移动性相关的技术方面的一步变化，考虑到人机动态交互。研究成果将解决与截肢者恢复活动能力相关的一些医疗挑战，并为设计和开发支持人口老龄化和中风患者康复等应用的设备的新方向铺平道路。世界第三大假肢制造商在英国，这项研究将通过提供更多的商业化机会，促进英国在全球的地位。

Every year, thousands of people lose a lower limb as a result of a range of factors such as circulatory problems, complications of diabetes or trauma. Current lower limb prostheses can be divided into three groups: i) Purely passive mechanical and requiring a significant voluntary control effort; ii) Actively controlled in which the limb performance is measured and parameters altered to improve performance; iii) Actively driven, or powered prostheses using actuators to directly input mechanical work into the limb. The latter devices do not take into consideration the dynamic interaction between the body elements and prostheses. As a result, they require large amounts of energy and have low efficiency. Therefore they are not in harmony and synergy with the human body. Hence, there is a need for a new generation of lower limb prostheses which can mimic the human muscle by combining active and passive modes. The new generation of prostheses should have a plug and play characteristic and the limb would self tune to the current walking situation (level, slopes and stairs) to optimise the system performance to the user. During the walking cycle, the artificial limb will switch between delivering energy to the walking motion to harvesting energy during the swing phase; prolonging battery power and reducing the burden on the batteries. The aim of this project is to design and develop a new smart lower limb prosthesis through a research programme structured around the following activities. 1) Use of body hub sensors to measure gait dynamics in real time;2) Use of prosthesis integrated sensors interfaced with the human limb to measure reaction loads during prosthesis use; 3) Estimation of user intent and evaluation of the potential for haptic or other forms of feedback from the prosthesis to enhance its usability; 4) Optimisation of energy use through dynamic coupling and energy generation; and 5) Improvements in limb comfort associated with extended periods of wear.The outcome of the research will be a step change towards the use of technology in relation to the human body and mobility considering human-machine dynamic interaction. The research outcomes will address a number of healthcare challenges associated with the restoration of mobility in amputees, and paves the way for a new direction in the design and development of devices to support mobility in an aging population and applications such as the rehabilitation of stroke patients. The world's third largest manufacture of prosthetics is in the UK and this research will boost the advancement of the UK position worldwide by providing enhanced opportunities for commercialisation.