User-Adaptive and Safe Control of a Wearable Upper-Extremity Exoskeleton Robot

该项目的研究目标是开发一种上肢外骨骼和专用控制器，可以增强手臂运动的敏捷性，同时保持人机耦合系统的稳定性和安全性。 外骨骼设计利用新颖的机构和被动滑动装置来使外骨骼与人类用户的肩部和肘部运动学对准。此外，该项目将表征人体肩关节和肘关节的3D阻抗，从而有助于对人体上肢生物力学的基本理解。 一个新的，用户自适应，可变阻抗控制器与安全监督器将管理灵活性和耦合稳定性之间的权衡在物理人-机器人系统，同时避免尴尬的姿势，可能导致肌肉骨骼损伤。如果成功，该技术有可能通过减少与工作相关的肌肉骨骼疾病及其对工人和雇主的生产力和医疗保健成本的不良影响，对社会和国家福祉产生积极影响。这项工作的更广泛的影响包括指导，教育和外展活动，重点是包容代表性不足的少数民族。该项目将设计和控制一个高性能和稳定的上肢外骨骼机器人。一种新颖的机械设计将并联和串联致动机构与被动滑动接口集成在一起，以改善上肢移动性，同时减轻人类用户的关节与机器人的关节之间的机械干扰（未对准）。一个关键的创新将是表征的三维阻抗的人的肩关节和肘关节，这将有助于人类上肢的生物力学的基本理解和一种新型的机器人控制器的开发。机器人控制器将结合人类机械阻抗的估计和用户意图的测量，以提高人类-机器人系统的敏捷性，超越最先进的基于无源性的控制器。此外，一个高层次的监督控制器的基础上合成的鲁棒控制不变的安全集将防止耦合的人-机器人系统达到不安全或尴尬的配置，可能会导致肌肉骨骼损伤。人类受试者的实验，以评估与现有的机器人控制器相比，系统及其控制器的性能。如果成功的话，“具有安全保证的用户自适应可变阻抗控制器”将为如何在物理人机系统中管理敏捷性和耦合稳定性之间的权衡提供一个可推广的例子。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The research objective of this project is to develop an upper extremity exoskeleton and dedicated controller that can enhance agility of arm motions while retaining stability and safety of the coupled human-robot system. The exoskeleton design utilizes a novel mechanism and passive slip device to align the exoskeleton with the human user's shoulder and elbow kinematics. In addition, the project will characterize the 3D impedances of the human shoulder and elbow joints, thereby contributing to a fundamental understanding of the biomechanics of the human upper extremity. A new, user-adaptive, variable impedance controller with safety supervisor will manage the tradeoff between agility and coupled stability in the physical human-robot system while avoiding awkward postures that could lead to musculoskeletal injury. If successful, the technology has potential to positively impact society and the national well-being by reducing work-related musculoskeletal disorders and their undesirable impacts on the productivity and healthcare costs of workers and employers. Broader impacts of the work include mentorship, educational, and outreach activities that focus on inclusion for underrepresented minorities.This project will design and control a high-performing and stable upper-extremity exoskeleton robot. A novel mechanical design integrates parallel and serial actuation mechanisms with a passive slip interface to improve upper extremity mobility while alleviating mechanical interference (misalignment) between the human user's joints and the robot's joints. A key innovation will be a characterization of the 3D impedances of the human shoulder and elbow joints, which will contribute both to a fundamental understanding of the biomechanics of the human upper extremity and to the development of a novel robotic controller. The robotic controller will incorporate the estimates of human mechanical impedance and a measure of user intent to improve the agility of the human-robot system beyond state-of-the-art passivity-based controllers. In addition, a high-level supervisory controller based on the synthesis of robust controlled invariant safety sets will prevent the coupled human-robot system from reaching unsafe or awkward configurations that could cause musculoskeletal injury. Human subject experiments to evaluate the performance of the system and its controller in comparison with existing robotic controllers are planned. If successful, the "user-adaptive variable impedance controller with safety guarantees" could provide a generalizable example of how to manage the tradeoff between agility and coupled stability in physical human-robot systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.