In order to improve the elderly people's quality of life,supporting their walking behaviors is a promising technology.Therefore,based on one ultrasonic motor,a wire-driven series elastic mechanism for walking assi...In order to improve the elderly people's quality of life,supporting their walking behaviors is a promising technology.Therefore,based on one ultrasonic motor,a wire-driven series elastic mechanism for walking assistive system is proposed and investigated in this research.In contrast to tradition,it innovatively utilizes an ultrasonic motor and a wire-driven series elastic mechanism to achieve superior system performances in aspects of simple structure,high torque/weight ratio,quiet operation,quick response,favorable electromagnetic compatibility,strong shock resistance,better safety,and accurately stable force control.The proposed device is mainly composed of an ultrasonic motor,a linear spring,a steel wire,four pulleys and one rotating part.To overcome the ultrasonic motor's insufficient output torque,a steel wire and pulleys are smartly combined to directly magnify the torque instead of using a conventional gear reducer.Among the pulleys,there is one tailored pulley playing an important role to keep the reduction ratio as 4.5 constantly.Meanwhile,the prototype is manufactured and its actual performance is verified by experimental results.In a one-second operating cycle,it only takes 86 ms for this mechanism to output an assistive torque of 1.6 N·m.At this torque,the ultrasonic motor's speed is around 4.1 rad/s.Moreover,experiments with different operation periods have been conducted for different application scenarios.This study provides a useful idea for the application of ultrasonic motor in walking assistance system.展开更多
Researchers have proposed various linkage mechanisms to connect knee and ankle joints for above-knee prosthe-ses,but most of them only offer natural walking.However,studies have shown that people assume a squatting po...Researchers have proposed various linkage mechanisms to connect knee and ankle joints for above-knee prosthe-ses,but most of them only offer natural walking.However,studies have shown that people assume a squatting posture during daily activities.This paper introduces a novel mechanism that connects the knee joint with the foot-ankle joint to enable both squatting and walking.The prosthetic knee used is the well-known 3R36,while the energy storing and return(ESAR)prosthetic foot is used for the ankle-foot joint.To coordinate knee and ankle joint movements,a six-bar linkage mechanism structure is proposed.Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed modular transfemoral prosthesis accurately mimics the motion patterns of a natural human leg during walking and squatting.For instance,the prosthesis allows a total knee flexion of more than 140°during squatting.The new prosthesis design also incorporates energy-storing mechanisms to reduce energy expenditure during walking for amputees.展开更多
It is desired to require a walking robot for the elderly and the disabled to have large capacity,high stiffness,stability,etc.However,the existing walking robots cannot achieve these requirements because of the weight...It is desired to require a walking robot for the elderly and the disabled to have large capacity,high stiffness,stability,etc.However,the existing walking robots cannot achieve these requirements because of the weight-payload ratio and simple function.Therefore,Improvement of enhancing capacity and functions of the walking robot is an important research issue.According to walking requirements and combining modularization and reconfigurable ideas,a quadruped/biped reconfigurable walking robot with parallel leg mechanism is proposed.The proposed robot can be used for both a biped and a quadruped walking robot.The kinematics and performance analysis of a 3-UPU parallel mechanism which is the basic leg mechanism of a quadruped walking robot are conducted and the structural parameters are optimized.The results show that performance of the walking robot is optimal when the circumradius R,r of the upper and lower platform of leg mechanism are 161.7 mm,57.7 mm,respectively.Based on the optimal results,the kinematics and dynamics of the quadruped walking robot in the static walking mode are derived with the application of parallel mechanism and influence coefficient theory,and the optimal coordination distribution of the dynamic load for the quadruped walking robot with over-determinate inputs is analyzed,which solves dynamic load coupling caused by the branches’ constraint of the robot in the walk process.Besides laying a theoretical foundation for development of the prototype,the kinematics and dynamics studies on the quadruped walking robot also boost the theoretical research of the quadruped walking and the practical applications of parallel mechanism.展开更多
The concept of legged-robot stability training with a training platform is proposed and a serial-parallel mechanism platform with 6 degrees of freedom is designed for this target. The designed platform is composed of ...The concept of legged-robot stability training with a training platform is proposed and a serial-parallel mechanism platform with 6 degrees of freedom is designed for this target. The designed platform is composed of 4-DOF parallel mechanism with spherical joints and prismatic pairs,and 2-DOF serial mechanism with prismatic pairs. With this design,the platform has advantages of low platform countertop,big workspace,high carrying capacity and high stiffness. On the basis of DOF analysis and computation of space mechanism,weight supporting auxiliary mechanism and raceways-balls supporting mechanism are designed,so as to improve the stiffness of designed large platform and payload capacity of servo motors. And then the whole structure design work of the platform is done. Meanwhile,this paper derives the analytical solutions of forward kinematics, inverse kinematics and inverse dynamics. The error analysis model of position and orientation is established. And then the simulation is done in ADAMS to ensure the correctness and feasibility of this design.展开更多
In order to improve the rehabilitative effect of users' recovery training and reduce the production cost of rehabilitation institution, this paper designs an aid walking mechanism for a lower limb rehabilitation robo...In order to improve the rehabilitative effect of users' recovery training and reduce the production cost of rehabilitation institution, this paper designs an aid walking mechanism for a lower limb rehabilitation robot which achieves the movement of transmission by use of the interrelationship between hip and knee. Using single chip micyoco (SCM) control technology to achieve the coordinated operation of the entire mechanical institution, this aid walking mechanism simulates the walking gait. Besides, this paper also verifies that materials' strength meet the design requirements by Solidworks simulation stress-strain analysis module.展开更多
This paper deals with the mechanics problem of dynamic walking of anthropomorphic biped robots. Through analysing the mechanics system of this kind of robots in detail, the motion constraint equations are established,...This paper deals with the mechanics problem of dynamic walking of anthropomorphic biped robots. Through analysing the mechanics system of this kind of robots in detail, the motion constraint equations are established, three mechanics laws describing the r展开更多
Background:End-stage ankle arthritis impairs joint function and patients' mobility.Total ankle replacement is a surgical procedure to treat severe ankle arthritis.Salto Talaris Anatomic Ankle^(TM)(STAA) was design...Background:End-stage ankle arthritis impairs joint function and patients' mobility.Total ankle replacement is a surgical procedure to treat severe ankle arthritis.Salto Talaris Anatomic Ankle^(TM)(STAA) was designed to mimic the normal ankle anatomy and flexion/extension of the ankle movement.The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of an STAA ankle replacement on ankle joint function and mechanics during gait.Methods:Five patients with end-stage unilateral ankle arthritis were recruited.Patients performed level walking in a laboratory setting on 2occasions,prior to and 3 months after the STAA ankle surgeries.American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society(AOFAS) hindfoot score was obtained.A 12-camera motion capture system was used to perform walking analysis.Gait temporo-spatial parameters and ankle joint mechanics were evaluated.Paired Student's t tests and non-parametric Wilcoxon matched tests were performed to examine the differences in biomechanical variables between the pre-and post-surgery walking conditions.Results:Compared to the pre-surgical condition,at 3 months of post-STAA surgery,patients experienced greater improvement in AOFAS hindfoot score(p = 0.0001);the STAA ankle demonstrated a 31% increase in ankle joint excursion(p = 0.045),a 22% increase in ankle plantarflexor moment(p = 0.075),a 60% increase in ankle power absorption(p = 0.023),and a 68% increase in ankle power production(p = 0.039).Patients also demonstrated a 26% increase in walking speed(p = 0.005),a 20% increase in stride length(p = 0.013),a 15% decrease in double support time(p = 0.043),and a 5% decrease in total stance time(p = 0.055).Conclusion:Three months after surgeries,the STAA patients experienced improvements in ankle function and gait parameters.The STAA ankle demonstrated improved ankle mechanics during daily activities such as walking.展开更多
A turn control strategy is proposed in order to improve environmental adaptability of a quasi-passive walking robot by utilizing a mechanical oscillator. The target trajectory of the fmechanical oscillator is determin...A turn control strategy is proposed in order to improve environmental adaptability of a quasi-passive walking robot by utilizing a mechanical oscillator. The target trajectory of the fmechanical oscillator is determined by online planning of its period, phase, amplitude and angle of the central axis of oscillation. The motion of the mechanical oscillator is always entrained with the rocking motion of the robot based on forced entrainment in order to stabilize the robot. The turn radius can be controlled by adjusting the inclination angle of the central axis of the mechanical oscillator movement, and the control method is numerically and experimentally examined. Results show that the robot can turn with different radius and it is possible for the robot to walk in various environments. Finally, the gait of turn is compared with that of straight walking and analyzed in terms of mechanical work and energy.展开更多
A reconfigurable propulsion unit based on the Peaucellier-Lipkin mechanism has the ability to describe exact straight or curved paths depending on the selected ratio between the lengths of two of its links. The Peauce...A reconfigurable propulsion unit based on the Peaucellier-Lipkin mechanism has the ability to describe exact straight or curved paths depending on the selected ratio between the lengths of two of its links. The Peaucellier-Lipkin mechanism with one degree of freedom is transformed into a more sophisticated parallel kinematic chain by including four more degrees of freedom. The resulting propulsion unit is able to adapt its kinematic structure and reach instant centers of rotation, in accordance with the presence of three points that border a geometric path. A laser sensor mounted on the body of the machine detects each point. Once the machine has detected the exact location of the border of the road, it walks along a curve parallel to that border. Although the proposed research describes only one propulsion unit or leg, the methodology can be applied to all the legs of the walking machine. The novel 5-DOF leg is able to reach different centers of rotation, providing either the concave or convex arcs that satisfy the basic principle of displacement of walking machines.展开更多
Inverted pendulum models are commonly used to study the bio-mechanics of biped walkers. In its simplest form, the inverted pendulum consists of a point mass attached to two straight mass-less legs. Most works constrai...Inverted pendulum models are commonly used to study the bio-mechanics of biped walkers. In its simplest form, the inverted pendulum consists of a point mass attached to two straight mass-less legs. Most works constrain the motion of the mass to the sagittal plane, i.e. the plane perpendicular to the ground that contains the direction toward the biped is walking. In this article, we remove this constrain to study the oscillations, the mass experiences in the direction perpendicular to the sagittal plane as the biped walks. While small, these lateral oscillations are unavoidable and of importance in the understanding of balance and stability of walkers, as well as walkers induced oscillations in pedestrian bridges.展开更多
An optimal trajectory planning method has been proposed for the walking locomotion of a biped mechanical system with thighs, shanks and small feet, which is modelled as a 3 DOF link system consisting of an inverted pe...An optimal trajectory planning method has been proposed for the walking locomotion of a biped mechanical system with thighs, shanks and small feet, which is modelled as a 3 DOF link system consisting of an inverted pendulum and a 2 DOF swing leg. The locomotion of swing and supporting legs is solved by the optimal trajectory planning based on function approximation. The optimal trajectory planning based on function approximation. The optimal walking locomotion solution with minimum square of input torque exhibits a natural walking gait with one step period of 0.64 s similar to the human walking gait by using the link parameters of an adult’s leg. It is concluded from the computation results that the method proposed in this paper has been proved to be an effective tool for solving the optimal walking locomotion and joint control torque problems for a 3 DOF biped mechanism; when the ankle joint of the supporting leg is a passive joint, a nearly, optimal walking solution can be obtained at t 1=0.49 s and t 2=10 s, and however, when the knee is a passive joint, it is impossible to obtain a solution which satisfies the constraint condition; for the link parameters used in this paper, the length of an optimal stride is 0.3 m.展开更多
Walking as a unique biometric tool conveys important information for emotion recognition.Individuals in different emotional states exhibit distinct walking patterns.For this purpose,this paper proposes a novel approac...Walking as a unique biometric tool conveys important information for emotion recognition.Individuals in different emotional states exhibit distinct walking patterns.For this purpose,this paper proposes a novel approach to recognizing emotion during walking using electroencephalogram(EEG)and inertial signals.Accurate recognition of emotion is achieved by training in an end-to-end deep learning fashion and taking into account multi-modal fusion.Subjects wear virtual reality head-mounted display(VR-HMD)equipment to immerse in strong emotions during walking.VR environment shows excellent imitation and experience ability,which plays an important role in awakening and changing emotions.In addition,the multi-modal signals acquired from EEG and inertial sensors are separately represented as virtual emotion images by discrete wavelet transform(DWT).These serve as input to the attention-based convolutional neural network(CNN)fusion model.The designed network structure is simple and lightweight while integrating the channel attention mechanism to extract and enhance features.To effectively improve the performance of the recognition system,the proposed decision fusion algorithm combines Critic method and majority voting strategy to determine the weight values that affect the final decision results.An investigation is made on the effect of diverse mother wavelet types and wavelet decomposition levels on model performance which indicates that the 2.2-order reverse biorthogonal(rbio2.2)wavelet with two-level decomposition has the best recognition performance.Comparative experiment results show that the proposed method outperforms other existing state-of-the-art works with an accuracy of 98.73%.展开更多
基金Supported by China Scholarship Council(Grant No.202006830033),Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions(PAPD)of China.
文摘In order to improve the elderly people's quality of life,supporting their walking behaviors is a promising technology.Therefore,based on one ultrasonic motor,a wire-driven series elastic mechanism for walking assistive system is proposed and investigated in this research.In contrast to tradition,it innovatively utilizes an ultrasonic motor and a wire-driven series elastic mechanism to achieve superior system performances in aspects of simple structure,high torque/weight ratio,quiet operation,quick response,favorable electromagnetic compatibility,strong shock resistance,better safety,and accurately stable force control.The proposed device is mainly composed of an ultrasonic motor,a linear spring,a steel wire,four pulleys and one rotating part.To overcome the ultrasonic motor's insufficient output torque,a steel wire and pulleys are smartly combined to directly magnify the torque instead of using a conventional gear reducer.Among the pulleys,there is one tailored pulley playing an important role to keep the reduction ratio as 4.5 constantly.Meanwhile,the prototype is manufactured and its actual performance is verified by experimental results.In a one-second operating cycle,it only takes 86 ms for this mechanism to output an assistive torque of 1.6 N·m.At this torque,the ultrasonic motor's speed is around 4.1 rad/s.Moreover,experiments with different operation periods have been conducted for different application scenarios.This study provides a useful idea for the application of ultrasonic motor in walking assistance system.
文摘Researchers have proposed various linkage mechanisms to connect knee and ankle joints for above-knee prosthe-ses,but most of them only offer natural walking.However,studies have shown that people assume a squatting posture during daily activities.This paper introduces a novel mechanism that connects the knee joint with the foot-ankle joint to enable both squatting and walking.The prosthetic knee used is the well-known 3R36,while the energy storing and return(ESAR)prosthetic foot is used for the ankle-foot joint.To coordinate knee and ankle joint movements,a six-bar linkage mechanism structure is proposed.Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed modular transfemoral prosthesis accurately mimics the motion patterns of a natural human leg during walking and squatting.For instance,the prosthesis allows a total knee flexion of more than 140°during squatting.The new prosthesis design also incorporates energy-storing mechanisms to reduce energy expenditure during walking for amputees.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.61075099)
文摘It is desired to require a walking robot for the elderly and the disabled to have large capacity,high stiffness,stability,etc.However,the existing walking robots cannot achieve these requirements because of the weight-payload ratio and simple function.Therefore,Improvement of enhancing capacity and functions of the walking robot is an important research issue.According to walking requirements and combining modularization and reconfigurable ideas,a quadruped/biped reconfigurable walking robot with parallel leg mechanism is proposed.The proposed robot can be used for both a biped and a quadruped walking robot.The kinematics and performance analysis of a 3-UPU parallel mechanism which is the basic leg mechanism of a quadruped walking robot are conducted and the structural parameters are optimized.The results show that performance of the walking robot is optimal when the circumradius R,r of the upper and lower platform of leg mechanism are 161.7 mm,57.7 mm,respectively.Based on the optimal results,the kinematics and dynamics of the quadruped walking robot in the static walking mode are derived with the application of parallel mechanism and influence coefficient theory,and the optimal coordination distribution of the dynamic load for the quadruped walking robot with over-determinate inputs is analyzed,which solves dynamic load coupling caused by the branches’ constraint of the robot in the walk process.Besides laying a theoretical foundation for development of the prototype,the kinematics and dynamics studies on the quadruped walking robot also boost the theoretical research of the quadruped walking and the practical applications of parallel mechanism.
基金Sponsored by the National High-Tech Research and Development Program(Grant No.2006AA04Z201)
文摘The concept of legged-robot stability training with a training platform is proposed and a serial-parallel mechanism platform with 6 degrees of freedom is designed for this target. The designed platform is composed of 4-DOF parallel mechanism with spherical joints and prismatic pairs,and 2-DOF serial mechanism with prismatic pairs. With this design,the platform has advantages of low platform countertop,big workspace,high carrying capacity and high stiffness. On the basis of DOF analysis and computation of space mechanism,weight supporting auxiliary mechanism and raceways-balls supporting mechanism are designed,so as to improve the stiffness of designed large platform and payload capacity of servo motors. And then the whole structure design work of the platform is done. Meanwhile,this paper derives the analytical solutions of forward kinematics, inverse kinematics and inverse dynamics. The error analysis model of position and orientation is established. And then the simulation is done in ADAMS to ensure the correctness and feasibility of this design.
基金Supported by Science and Technology Department of Anhui Province Regional Innovation Projects and Qiushi Plan(JZ2015QSJH0245)
文摘In order to improve the rehabilitative effect of users' recovery training and reduce the production cost of rehabilitation institution, this paper designs an aid walking mechanism for a lower limb rehabilitation robot which achieves the movement of transmission by use of the interrelationship between hip and knee. Using single chip micyoco (SCM) control technology to achieve the coordinated operation of the entire mechanical institution, this aid walking mechanism simulates the walking gait. Besides, this paper also verifies that materials' strength meet the design requirements by Solidworks simulation stress-strain analysis module.
文摘This paper deals with the mechanics problem of dynamic walking of anthropomorphic biped robots. Through analysing the mechanics system of this kind of robots in detail, the motion constraint equations are established, three mechanics laws describing the r
文摘Background:End-stage ankle arthritis impairs joint function and patients' mobility.Total ankle replacement is a surgical procedure to treat severe ankle arthritis.Salto Talaris Anatomic Ankle^(TM)(STAA) was designed to mimic the normal ankle anatomy and flexion/extension of the ankle movement.The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of an STAA ankle replacement on ankle joint function and mechanics during gait.Methods:Five patients with end-stage unilateral ankle arthritis were recruited.Patients performed level walking in a laboratory setting on 2occasions,prior to and 3 months after the STAA ankle surgeries.American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society(AOFAS) hindfoot score was obtained.A 12-camera motion capture system was used to perform walking analysis.Gait temporo-spatial parameters and ankle joint mechanics were evaluated.Paired Student's t tests and non-parametric Wilcoxon matched tests were performed to examine the differences in biomechanical variables between the pre-and post-surgery walking conditions.Results:Compared to the pre-surgical condition,at 3 months of post-STAA surgery,patients experienced greater improvement in AOFAS hindfoot score(p = 0.0001);the STAA ankle demonstrated a 31% increase in ankle joint excursion(p = 0.045),a 22% increase in ankle plantarflexor moment(p = 0.075),a 60% increase in ankle power absorption(p = 0.023),and a 68% increase in ankle power production(p = 0.039).Patients also demonstrated a 26% increase in walking speed(p = 0.005),a 20% increase in stride length(p = 0.013),a 15% decrease in double support time(p = 0.043),and a 5% decrease in total stance time(p = 0.055).Conclusion:Three months after surgeries,the STAA patients experienced improvements in ankle function and gait parameters.The STAA ankle demonstrated improved ankle mechanics during daily activities such as walking.
文摘A turn control strategy is proposed in order to improve environmental adaptability of a quasi-passive walking robot by utilizing a mechanical oscillator. The target trajectory of the fmechanical oscillator is determined by online planning of its period, phase, amplitude and angle of the central axis of oscillation. The motion of the mechanical oscillator is always entrained with the rocking motion of the robot based on forced entrainment in order to stabilize the robot. The turn radius can be controlled by adjusting the inclination angle of the central axis of the mechanical oscillator movement, and the control method is numerically and experimentally examined. Results show that the robot can turn with different radius and it is possible for the robot to walk in various environments. Finally, the gait of turn is compared with that of straight walking and analyzed in terms of mechanical work and energy.
基金Supported by Postgraduate Department of School of Mechanical Engineering,Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo,Francisco J.Múgica S/N Ciudad Universitaria,C.P.58030,Morelia,Michoacán,México
文摘A reconfigurable propulsion unit based on the Peaucellier-Lipkin mechanism has the ability to describe exact straight or curved paths depending on the selected ratio between the lengths of two of its links. The Peaucellier-Lipkin mechanism with one degree of freedom is transformed into a more sophisticated parallel kinematic chain by including four more degrees of freedom. The resulting propulsion unit is able to adapt its kinematic structure and reach instant centers of rotation, in accordance with the presence of three points that border a geometric path. A laser sensor mounted on the body of the machine detects each point. Once the machine has detected the exact location of the border of the road, it walks along a curve parallel to that border. Although the proposed research describes only one propulsion unit or leg, the methodology can be applied to all the legs of the walking machine. The novel 5-DOF leg is able to reach different centers of rotation, providing either the concave or convex arcs that satisfy the basic principle of displacement of walking machines.
文摘Inverted pendulum models are commonly used to study the bio-mechanics of biped walkers. In its simplest form, the inverted pendulum consists of a point mass attached to two straight mass-less legs. Most works constrain the motion of the mass to the sagittal plane, i.e. the plane perpendicular to the ground that contains the direction toward the biped is walking. In this article, we remove this constrain to study the oscillations, the mass experiences in the direction perpendicular to the sagittal plane as the biped walks. While small, these lateral oscillations are unavoidable and of importance in the understanding of balance and stability of walkers, as well as walkers induced oscillations in pedestrian bridges.
文摘An optimal trajectory planning method has been proposed for the walking locomotion of a biped mechanical system with thighs, shanks and small feet, which is modelled as a 3 DOF link system consisting of an inverted pendulum and a 2 DOF swing leg. The locomotion of swing and supporting legs is solved by the optimal trajectory planning based on function approximation. The optimal trajectory planning based on function approximation. The optimal walking locomotion solution with minimum square of input torque exhibits a natural walking gait with one step period of 0.64 s similar to the human walking gait by using the link parameters of an adult’s leg. It is concluded from the computation results that the method proposed in this paper has been proved to be an effective tool for solving the optimal walking locomotion and joint control torque problems for a 3 DOF biped mechanism; when the ankle joint of the supporting leg is a passive joint, a nearly, optimal walking solution can be obtained at t 1=0.49 s and t 2=10 s, and however, when the knee is a passive joint, it is impossible to obtain a solution which satisfies the constraint condition; for the link parameters used in this paper, the length of an optimal stride is 0.3 m.
基金This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.61903170,62173175,61877033)the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province(Nos.ZR2019BF045,ZR2019MF021)the Key Research and Development Project of Shandong Province of China(No.2019GGX101003).
文摘Walking as a unique biometric tool conveys important information for emotion recognition.Individuals in different emotional states exhibit distinct walking patterns.For this purpose,this paper proposes a novel approach to recognizing emotion during walking using electroencephalogram(EEG)and inertial signals.Accurate recognition of emotion is achieved by training in an end-to-end deep learning fashion and taking into account multi-modal fusion.Subjects wear virtual reality head-mounted display(VR-HMD)equipment to immerse in strong emotions during walking.VR environment shows excellent imitation and experience ability,which plays an important role in awakening and changing emotions.In addition,the multi-modal signals acquired from EEG and inertial sensors are separately represented as virtual emotion images by discrete wavelet transform(DWT).These serve as input to the attention-based convolutional neural network(CNN)fusion model.The designed network structure is simple and lightweight while integrating the channel attention mechanism to extract and enhance features.To effectively improve the performance of the recognition system,the proposed decision fusion algorithm combines Critic method and majority voting strategy to determine the weight values that affect the final decision results.An investigation is made on the effect of diverse mother wavelet types and wavelet decomposition levels on model performance which indicates that the 2.2-order reverse biorthogonal(rbio2.2)wavelet with two-level decomposition has the best recognition performance.Comparative experiment results show that the proposed method outperforms other existing state-of-the-art works with an accuracy of 98.73%.