Real-time assistive control via IMU locomotion mode detection in a soft exosuit

• Verfasst von: Zhang, Xiaohui [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Tricomi, Enrica [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Missiroli, Francesco [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Lotti, Nicola [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Masia, Lorenzo [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Real-time assistive control via IMU locomotion mode detection in a soft exosuit
• Titelzusatz: an effective approach to enhance walking metabolic efficiency
• Verf.angabe: Xiaohui Zhang, Enrica Tricomi, Francesco Missiroli, Nicola Lotti, Lorenzo Masia
• Jahr: 2024
• Umfang: 12 S.
• Fussnoten: Gesehen am 15.12.2023
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: Institute of Electrical and Electronics EngineersIEEE ASME transactions on mechatronics
• Ort Quelle: New York, NY : IEEE, 1996
• Jahr Quelle: 2024
• Band/Heft Quelle: 29(2024), 3 vom: Juni, Seite 1797-1808
• ISSN Quelle: 1941-014X
• DOI: doi:10.1109/TMECH.2023.3322269
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• K10plus-PPN: 1876040408

Abstract

In order to substantially improve human's walking endurance and energy economy, wearable assistive devices need to accurately recognize and timely adapt to different locomotion modes, such as ascending/descending stairs or level ground walking. In this work, we developed a control strategy for a soft hip exosuit entirely based on inertial measurement units (IMUs), able to online distinguish among three different walking patterns and optimally assist the user's gait phase. A time-delay compensation strategy was incorporated in the controller to promote high human-device synchronicity. The effectiveness of this control strategy was tested on healthy participants during overground walking consisting of a combination of staircases and level grounds. We found that the overall accuracy of the IMUs classification strategy based on human kinematics exceeded 90% for the three locomotion modes. Preliminary results showed that our assistive exosuit reduced the wearer's metabolic rate by 13.4% during walking when compared with an unpowered condition, and by 8.5% with respect to not wearing the exosuit at all. This work contributes to the development of compact high-performance lower-limb assistive technologies and their exploitation in real-world applications.