Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation Vol.

15 (Jan 2018)

MOTOR MODULES DURING ADAPTATION TO

WALKING IN A POWERED ANKLE EXOSKELETON

Daniel A. Jacobs,et.al

Background: Modules of muscle recruitment can be extracted from electromyography (EMG)

during motions, such as walking, running, and swimming, to identify key features of muscle
coordination. These features may provide insight into gait adaptation as a result of powered
assistance. The aim of this study was to investigate the changes (module size, module timing
and weighting patterns) of surface EMG data during assisted and unassisted walking in an
powered, myoelectric, ankle-foot orthosis (ankle exoskeleton). Methods: Eight healthy
subjects wore bilateral ankle exoskeletons and walked at 1.2 m/s on a treadmill. In three
training sessions, subjects walked for 40 min in two conditions: unpowered (10 min) and
powered (30 min). During each session, we extracted modules of muscle recruitment via
nonnegative matrix factorization (NNMF) from the surface EMG signals of ten muscles in
the lower limb. We evaluated reconstruction quality for each muscle individually using R2
and normalized root mean squared error (NRMSE). We hypothesized that the number of
modules needed to reconstruct muscle data would be the same between conditions and that
there would be greater similarity in module timings than weightings. Results: Across
subjects, we found that six modules were sufficient to reconstruct the muscle data for both
conditions, suggesting that the number of modules was preserved. The similarity of module
timings and weightings between conditions was greater then random chance, indicating that
muscle coordination was also preserved. Motor adaptation during walking in the exoskeleton
was dominated by changes in the module timings rather than module weightings. The
segment number and the session number were significant fixed effects in a linear mixed-
effect model for the increase in R2 with time. Conclusions: Our results show that subjects
walking in a exoskeleton preserved the number of modules and the coordination of muscles
within the modules across conditions. Training (motor adaptation within the session and
motor skill consolidation across sessions) led to improved consistency of the muscle patterns.
Subjects adapted primarily by changing the timing of their muscle patterns rather than the
weightings of muscles in the modules. The results of this study give new insight into
strategies for muscle recruitment during adaptation to a powered ankle exoskeleton.

Keywords: Neuromechanics; Gait; Adaptation; Motor module; Bilateral assistance;

Exoskeleton.

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 Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation Vol.15 (Jan 2018)

VOLITION-ADAPTIVE CONTROL FOR GAIT TRAINING USING WEARABLE

EXOSKELETON: PRELIMINARY TESTS WITH INCOMPLETE SPINAL CORD
INJURY INDIVIDUALS

Vijaykumar Rajasekaran,et.al.

Background: Gait training for individuals with neurological disorders is challenging in

providing the suitable assistance and more adaptive behaviour towards user needs. The user
specific adaptation can be defined based on the user interaction with the orthosis and by
monitoring the user intentions. In this paper, an adaptive control model, commanded by the
user intention, is evaluated using a lower limb exoskeleton with incomplete spinal cord injury
individuals (SCI). Methods: A user intention based adaptive control model has been
developed and evaluated with 4 incomplete SCI individuals across 3 sessions of training per
individual. The adaptive control model modifies the joint impedance properties of the
exoskeleton as a function of the human-orthosis interaction torques and the joint trajectory
evolution along the gait sequence, in real time. The volitional input of the user is identified by
monitoring the neural signals, pertaining to the user’s motor activity. These volitional inputs
are used as a trigger to initiate the gait movement, allowing the user to control the
initialization of the exoskeleton movement, independently. A Finite-state machine based
control model is used in this set-up which helps in combining the volitional orders with the
gait adaptation. Results: The exoskeleton demonstrated an adaptive assistance depending on
the patients’ performance without guiding them to follow an imposed trajectory. The
exoskeleton initiated the trajectory based on the user intention command received from the
brain machine interface, demonstrating it as a reliable trigger. The exoskeleton maintained
the equilibrium by providing suitable assistance throughout the experiments. A progressive
change in the maximum flexion of the knee joint was observed at the end of each session
which shows improvement in the patient performance. Results of the adaptive impedance
were evaluated by comparing with the application of a constant impedance value. Participants
reported that the movement of the exoskeleton was flexible and the walking patterns were
similar to their own distinct patterns. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that user specific
adaptive control can be applied on a wearable robot based on the human-orthosis interaction
torques and modifying the joints’ impedance properties. The patients perceived no external or
impulsive force and felt comfortable with the assistance provided by the exoskeleton. The
main goal of such a user dependent control is to assist the patients’ needs and adapt to their
characteristics, thus maximizing their engagement in the therapy and avoiding slacking. In
addition, the initiation directly controlled by the brain allows synchronizing the user’s
intention with the afferent stimulus provided by the movement of the exoskeleton, which
maximizes the potentiality of the system in neuro-rehabilitative therapies.

Keywords: Adaptive control; Brain-machine interface; Exoskeleton; Finite-state machine;

Gait training; Incomplete SCI; Volitional control

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 Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation Vol.15 (Jan 2018)

VUB-CYBERLEGs CYBATHLON 2016 BETA-PROSTHESIS: CASE STUDY IN

CONTROL OF AN ACTIVE TWO DEGREE OF FREEDOM TRANSFEMORAL
PROSTHESIS

Louis L. Flynn,et.al.

Background: Here we present how the CYBERLEGs Beta-Prosthesis was modified with a
new control system to participate in the Powered Leg Prosthesis event, and to report on our
experience at the CYBATHLON 2016 which was held in Zurich, Switzerland in October
2016. The prosthesis has two active degrees of freedom which assist the user with extra joint
power at the knee and ankle to complete tasks. The CYBATHLON is a championship for
people with disabilities competing in six disciplines, using advanced assistive devices. Tasks
for CYBATHLON 2016 were chosen to reflect everyday normal task such as sitting and
standing from a chair, obstacle avoidance, stepping stones, slope walking and descent, and
stair climbing and descent. Methods: The control schemata were presented along with the
description of each of the six tasks. The participant of the competition, the pilot, ran through
each of the trials under lab conditions and representative behaviors were recorded. Results:
The VUB CYBERLEGs prosthesis was able to accomplish, to some degree, five of the six
tasks and here the torque and angle behaviors of the device while accomplishing these tasks
are presented. The relatively simple control methods were able to provide assistive torque
during many of the events, particularly sit to stand and stair climbing. For example, the
prosthesis was able to conistently provide over 30 Nm in arresting knee torque in the sitting
task, and over 20 Nm while standing. Peak torque of the device was not sufficient for
unassisted stair climbing, but was able to provide around 60 Nm of assistance in both ascent
and descent. Use of the passive behaviors of the device were shown to be able to trigger state
machine events reliably for certain tasks. Conclusions: Although the performance of the
CYBERLEGs prosthesis during CYBATHLON 2016 did not compare to the other top of the
market designs with regards to speed, the device performed all of the tasks that were deemed
possible by the start of the competition. Moreover, the Pilot was able to accomplish tasks in
ways the Pilot’s personal microcontrolled prosthesis could not, with limited powered
prosthesis training. Future studies will focus on decreasing weight, increasing reliability,
incorporating better control, and increasing the velocity of the device. This is only a case
study and actual benefits to clinical outcomes are not yet understood and need to be further
investigated. This competition was a unique experience to illuminate problems that future
versions of the device will be able to solve.

Keywords: Prosthesis; Transfemoral; Knee; Ankle; Active; CYBATHLON