Print Email Facebook Twitter Shared control in exoskeletons Title Shared control in exoskeletons: a proof-of-concept Author Siebinga, Olger (TU Delft Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering; TU Delft Biomechanical Engineering) Contributor Abbink, D.A. (mentor) van der Kooij, H. (mentor) Vrijdag, A. (graduation committee) Degree granting institution Delft University of Technology Programme Mechanical Engineering | Biomechanical Design - BioRobotics Date 2018-01-15 Abstract Currently, lower-body exoskeletons forparaplegics are investigated as an alternative to wheelchairsand as an exercise method with medical benefits. Literatureprovides little examples for users to influence thelength or frequency of steps taken by the exoskeleton,complicating stability and practical usability. This studyproposes a novel control paradigm that allows users toinfluence step parameters of the exoskeleton, through abi-directional haptic interface that also provides feedback.The exoskeleton handles the cyclic walking pattern whilethe patient is enabled to correct for disturbances. I adaptedan existing lower-body exoskeleton trajectory generator toallow real-time adaptation of step length and swing time.To demonstrate a proof-of-concept of the control paradigm,I implemented the controller for a virtual 2D exoskeleton,to be controlled by an existing bi-manual haptic controlinterface. A human-in-the-loop experiment was performedwith the goal to compare the benefits of user controlover either step length or swing time with a situationwith no human control. In the experiment perturbationsof increasing magnitude were applied to a 2D virtualexoskeleton, participants could increase or decrease eitherstep length or swing time during swing to correct for thesedisturbances. The number of successful step taken beforethe perturbations resulted in a fall were measured. Theswing time group succeeded in making the exoskeletonwalk stably significantly longer then when there was nohuman input, proving that the proposed control paradigmis feasible and beneficial for stability. Subject ExoskeletonParaplegicLower BodyShared ControlHaptic InterfaceStability To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:d66558f9-2c92-4aa0-9a7a-eb84a085b26c Part of collection Student theses Document type master thesis Rights © 2018 Olger Siebinga Files PDF Master_Thesis_O_Siebinga_ ... sitory.pdf 5.28 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:d66558f9-2c92-4aa0-9a7a-eb84a085b26c/datastream/OBJ/view