Applied Bionics and Biomechanics

The design of an accurate control scheme for a lower limb exoskeleton system has few challenges due to the uncertain dynamics and the unintended subject’s reflexes during gait rehabilitation. In this work, a robust linear quadratic regulator- (LQR-) based neural-fuzzy (NF) control scheme is proposed to address the effect of payload uncertainties and external disturbances during passive-assist gait training. Initially, the Euler-Lagrange principle-based nonlinear dynamic relations are established for the coupled system. The input-output feedback linearization approach is used to transform the nonlinear relations into a linearized state-space form. The architecture of the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and used membership function are briefly explained. While varying mass parameters up to 20%, three robust neural-fuzzy datasets are formulated offline with the joint error vector and LQR control input. Thereafter, to deal with external interferences, an error dynamics with a disturbance estimator is presented using an online adaptation of the firing strength matrix. The Lyapunov theory is carried out to ensure the asymptotic stability of the coupled human-exoskeleton system in view of the proposed controller. The gait tracking results for the proposed control scheme (RLQR-NF) are presented and compared with the exponential reaching law-based sliding mode (ERL-SM) controller. Furthermore, to investigate the robustness of the proposed control over LQR control, a comparative performance analysis is presented for two cases of parametric uncertainties and external disturbances. The first case considers the 20% raise in mass values with a trigonometric form of disturbances, and the second case includes the effect of the 30% increment in mass values with a random form of disturbances. The simulation runs have shown the promising gait tracking aspects of the designed controller for passive-assist gait training.

When legged robots walk on rugged roads, they would suffer from strong impact from the ground. The impact would cause the legged robots to vibrate, which would affect their normal operation. Therefore, it is necessary to take measures to absorb impact energy and reduce vibration. As an important part of a goat’s foot, the hoof capsule can effectively buffer the impact from the ground in the goat’s running and jumping. The structure of the hoof capsules and its principle of buffering and vibration reduction were studied. Inspired by the unique shape and internal structure of the hoof capsules, a bionic foot was designed. Experimental results displayed that the bionic foot could effectively use friction to consume impact energy and ensured the stability of legged robot walking. In addition, the bionic foot had a lower natural vibration frequency, which was beneficial to a wide range of vibration reduction. This work brings a new solution to the legged robot to deal with the ground impact, which helps it adapt to a variety of complex terrain.

Artificial finger joint design has been developed through different stages through the past. PIP (proximal interphalangeal) and MCP (metacarpophalangeal) artificial finger joints have come to replace the amputation and arthrodesis options; although, these artificial joints are still facing challenges related to reactive tissues, reduced range of motion, and flexion and extension deficits. Swanson silicone artificial finger joints are still common due to the physician’s preferability of silicone with the dorsal approach during operation. Nevertheless, other artificial finger joints such as the pyrocarbon implant arthroplasty have also drawn the interests of practitioners. Artificial finger joint has been classified under three major categories which are constrained, unconstrained, and linked design. There are also challenges such as concerns of infections and articular cartilage necrosis associated with attempted retention of vascularity. In addition, one of the main challenges facing the silicone artificial finger joints is the fracture occurring at the distal stem with the hinge. The aim of this paper is to review the different artificial finger joints in one paper as there are few old review papers about them. Further studies need to be done to develop the design and materials of the pyrocarbon and silicone implants to increase the range of motion associated with them and the fatigue life of the silicone implants.

Due to the unclear application scenarios and force analysis of exoskeletons, there exists a research gap in exoskeleton design. This paper presents a design method and realization of an exoskeleton for a specific scenario of lifting a load in situ. Firstly, the lifting motion process and its data were collected based on a 3-D motion capture system and dynamometer treadmill system. Then, the variations of the torque and motion of each joint were obtained from the data analysis, based on which an active assistance mode for upper limbs and a passive assistance mode for lower limbs were demonstrated. In this design, the hydraulic cylinder for shoulder assistance, the motor for elbow assistance, and the spring for lower limb assistance were calculated and selected according to the motion and torque of each joint. Finally, subjective and objective methods were used to evaluate the exoskeleton based on the results of five test participants, and the median oxygen consumption of the whole test by lifting a load ten times with the assistance was found to be reduced by 9.45% as compared with that in the absence of the exoskeleton.

Recognizing locomotion modes is a crucial step in controlling lower-limb exoskeletons/orthoses. Our study proposed a fuzzy-logic-based locomotion mode/transition recognition approach that uses the onrobot inertial sensors for a hip joint exoskeleton (active pelvic orthosis). The method outputs the recognition decisions at each extreme point of the hip joint angles purely relying on the integrated inertial sensors. Compared with the related studies, our approach enables calibrations and recognition without additional sensors on the feet. We validated the method by measuring four locomotion modes and eight locomotion transitions on three able-bodied subjects wearing an active pelvic orthosis (APO). The average recognition accuracy was 92.46% for intrasubject crossvalidation and 93.16% for intersubject crossvalidation. The average time delay during the transitions was 1897.9 ms (28.95% one gait cycle). The results were at the same level as the related studies. On the other side, the study is limited in the small sample size of the subjects, and the results are preliminary. Future efforts will be paid on more extensive evaluations in practical applications.

Speech signal is enriched with plenty of features used for biometrical recognition and other applications like gender and emotional recognition. Channel conditions manifested by background noise and reverberation are the main challenges causing feature shifts in the test and training data. In this paper, a hybrid speaker identification model for consistent speech features and high recognition accuracy is made. Features using Mel frequency spectrum coefficients (MFCC) have been improved by incorporating a pitch frequency coefficient from speech time domain analysis. In order to enhance noise immunity, we proposed a single hidden layer feed-forward neural network (FFNN) tuned by an optimized particle swarm optimization (OPSO) algorithm. The proposed model is tested using 10-fold cross-validation over different levels of Adaptive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) (0-50 dB). A recognition accuracy of 97.83% was obtained from the proposed model in clean voice environments. However, a noisy channel is realized with lesser impact on the proposed model as compared with other baseline classifiers such as plain-FFNN, random forest (RF), -nearest neighbour (KNN), and support vector machine (SVM).