Improving Mobility for Bilateral Amputees with Coordinated Robotic Prostheses

项目摘要 典型假体的能量被动行为限制了这种假体可以复制的程度。 评估健康肢体功能。尽管如此，单侧经股截肢者可以在很大程度上弥补这些不足 用未受影响的腿进行补偿动作。然而，在双侧经股截肢者的情况下， 被动假体的生物力学缺陷不能被这种补偿作用掩盖， 因此，在运动方面的缺陷更加明显。因此，尽管双边贸易额 股骨截肢者占下肢截肢者的比例相对较小，这一人群低于 明显比单侧或经胫骨的患者残疾更严重。动力假体（即，与pow- 膝关节和踝关节）能够模仿健康肢体的生物力学行为， 比被动假肢更大。因此，这一提议的基本假设是， 相对于被动假肢，动力假肢将更好地恢复双侧经股截肢者的步态。 特别是，将通过评估6名双侧经股截肢受试者的 动力假体降低髋关节扭矩和功率的程度，以及动力假体 相对于每个受试者的日常使用的被动假体，假体减少了运输的代谢成本。

Project Summary The energetically passive behavior of typical prostheses limits the extent to which such prostheses can repli- cate healthy limb function. Despite this, unilateral transfemoral amputees can largely offset these deficiencies with compensatory actions from their unaffected leg. In the case of bilateral transfemoral amputees, however, the biomechanical deficiencies of passive prostheses cannot be masked by such compensatory actions, and therefore the deficiencies in locomotion are considerably more evident. As a result, although bilateral trans- femoral amputees constitute a relative small proportion of lower extremity amputees, this population is sub- stantially more disabled than their unilateral or transtibial counterparts. A powered prosthesis (i.e., with pow- ered knee and ankle joints) is able to emulate the biomechanical behaviors of the healthy limb to a much greater extent than a passive prosthesis. As such, the underlying hypothesis of this proposal is that a pair of powered prostheses will better restore gait to bilateral transfemoral amputees, relative to passive prostheses. In particular, this hypothesis will be evaluated on six bilateral transfemoral amputee subjects by assessing the extent to which the powered prostheses reduce hip joint torque and power, and the extent to which powered prostheses reduce the metabolic cost of transport, relative to each subject's daily-use passive prostheses.