PFI-RP: Developing Market-Ready Affordable Robotic Lower-Limb Prostheses through Unified Joint Actuator Design and AI-Enhanced Multi-Modal Interactive Control

这个创新研究伙伴关系（PFI-RP）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是提供一种价格合理的动力下肢假体，为截肢者的日常生活提供多功能（多模式）操作。目前，美国大约有200万人失去了肢体，其中一半是下肢截肢者。目前可用的假肢装置大多是被动的，不能在运动中产生关节动力。因此，被动假肢使用者在日常生活中通常会遇到很大的困难和不适，例如无法爬楼梯，行走方式明显不对称，行走时消耗更多的能量。目前有两种用于下肢截肢者的动力假肢装置，但由于成本高、控制困难和用户意图识别等问题，报道的成功有限。该项目的研究和开发工作旨在通过创造一种创新的下肢假肢来克服这些问题，该假肢结合了低成本、轻重量、高可靠性和任务多功能性。通过这种创新的假肢装置，PFI团队预计将加速下肢截肢者对先进机器人假肢的接受，并显著改善他们的日常生活活动能力和生活质量。拟议的项目将探索多种创新技术，以开发新的动力下肢假体。首先，它包括开发一种新型的Common-Core-Components knee - ankle Prosthesis （C3KAP）设计技术，提供简单、低成本和高可靠性的假体关节，可以很容易地配置为假体膝关节或踝关节，辅以一种新型的可变刚度力力矩传感器，为假体控制提供敏感和可靠的负载测量。其次，开发一种新的双模态假肢运动控制技术，为个人用户提供自然的腿部摆动运动，交互式的姿态-相位控制以及简单标准化的控制器调谐。最后，PFI团队将创建一个先进的基于人工智能的意图识别器，以识别义肢用户的运动模式和所需的模式转换，使截肢者能够享受真正的多模式运动（步行和楼梯上下）的自由，显著提高移动性和生活质量。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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 broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation – Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project is the availability of a highly affordable powered lower-limb prosthesis that provides versatile (multi-modal) operation in amputee users’ daily life. Currently there are approximately 2 million people living with limb losses in the U.S., and half of them are lower-limb amputees. Currently available prosthetic devices are mostly passive, unable to generate joint power in locomotion. As such, the passive prosthesis users typically experience substantial difficulty and discomfort in daily life, for example, being unable to climb stairs, walking in an obviously asymmetric way, and expending more energy in walking. There are two powered prosthetic devices for lower-limb amputees, but limited success has been reported due to issues such as high cost and difficulties in control and user intent recognition. The research and development efforts in the proposed project aim at overcoming these problems by creating an innovative lower-limb prosthesis that combines low cost, light weight, high reliability, and task versatility. With this innovative prosthetic device, the PFI team anticipates accelerating the lower-limb amputees’ acceptance of advanced robotic prostheses and significantly improve their mobility and quality of life in daily living.The proposed project will explore multiple innovative technologies towards the development of the new powered lower-limb prosthesis. Firstly, it includes the development of a novel Common-Core-Components Knee-Ankle Prosthesis (C3KAP) design technology providing simple, low-cost, and highly reliable prosthetic joints that can be easily configured as prosthetic knee or ankle, supplemented by a novel variable stiffness force-moment load cell providing sensitive and reliable load measurement for prosthesis control. Secondly, it aims to develop a new bi-modal prosthesis motion control technology that provides natural leg swing motion, interactive stance-phase control, as well as simple and standardizable controller tuning for individual users. Finally, the PFI team will create an advanced AI-based intent recognizer to recognize the prosthesis users’ locomotive mode and desired mode transition, enabling amputees to enjoy the freedom of true multi-modal locomotion (walking and stair ascent/descent), significantly improved mobility and quality of life.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.