Gastrocnemius Myoelectric Control of a Robotic Hip Exoskeleton Can Reduce the User's Lower-Limb Muscle Activities at Push Off
We present a novel assistive control strategy for a robotic hip exoskeleton for assisting hip flexion/extension, based on a proportional Electromyography (EMG) strategy. The novelty of the proposed controller relies on the use of the Gastrocnemius Medialis (GM) EMG signal instead of a hip flexor mus...
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doaj-3e0be52dc58e42eea031fe64a6184e8a2020-11-24T21:38:20ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Neuroscience1662-453X2018-02-011210.3389/fnins.2018.00071307019Gastrocnemius Myoelectric Control of a Robotic Hip Exoskeleton Can Reduce the User's Lower-Limb Muscle Activities at Push OffLorenzo Grazi0Simona Crea1Andrea Parri2Raffaele Molino Lova3Silvestro Micera4Silvestro Micera5Nicola Vitiello6Nicola Vitiello7The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, ItalyThe BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, ItalyThe BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, ItalyFondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi, Firenze, ItalyThe BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, ItalyBertarelli Foundation Chair in Translation Neuroengineering, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Institute of Bioengineering, School of Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, SwitzerlandThe BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, ItalyFondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi, Firenze, ItalyWe present a novel assistive control strategy for a robotic hip exoskeleton for assisting hip flexion/extension, based on a proportional Electromyography (EMG) strategy. The novelty of the proposed controller relies on the use of the Gastrocnemius Medialis (GM) EMG signal instead of a hip flexor muscle, to control the hip flexion torque. This strategy has two main advantages: first, avoiding the placement of the EMG electrodes at the human–robot interface can reduce discomfort issues for the user and motion artifacts of the recorded signals; second, using a powerful signal for control, such as the GM, could improve the reliability of the control system. The control strategy has been tested on eight healthy subjects, walking with the robotic hip exoskeleton on the treadmill. We evaluated the controller performance and the effect of the assistance on muscle activities. The tuning of the assistance timing in the controller was subject dependent and varied across subjects. Two muscles could benefit more from the assistive strategy, namely the Rectus Femoris (directly assisted) and the Tibialis Anterior (indirectly assisted). A significant correlation was found between the timing of the delivered assistance (i.e., synchronism with the biological hip torque), and reduction of the hip flexors muscular activity during walking; instead, no significant correlations were found for peak torque and peak power. Results suggest that the timing of the assistance is the most significant parameter influencing the effectiveness of the control strategy. The findings of this work could be important for future studies aimed at developing assistive strategies for walking assistance exoskeletons.http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnins.2018.00071/fullexoskeletonEMG controlgaithip orthosiswalking assistance |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Lorenzo Grazi Simona Crea Andrea Parri Raffaele Molino Lova Silvestro Micera Silvestro Micera Nicola Vitiello Nicola Vitiello |
spellingShingle |
Lorenzo Grazi Simona Crea Andrea Parri Raffaele Molino Lova Silvestro Micera Silvestro Micera Nicola Vitiello Nicola Vitiello Gastrocnemius Myoelectric Control of a Robotic Hip Exoskeleton Can Reduce the User's Lower-Limb Muscle Activities at Push Off Frontiers in Neuroscience exoskeleton EMG control gait hip orthosis walking assistance |
author_facet |
Lorenzo Grazi Simona Crea Andrea Parri Raffaele Molino Lova Silvestro Micera Silvestro Micera Nicola Vitiello Nicola Vitiello |
author_sort |
Lorenzo Grazi |
title |
Gastrocnemius Myoelectric Control of a Robotic Hip Exoskeleton Can Reduce the User's Lower-Limb Muscle Activities at Push Off |
title_short |
Gastrocnemius Myoelectric Control of a Robotic Hip Exoskeleton Can Reduce the User's Lower-Limb Muscle Activities at Push Off |
title_full |
Gastrocnemius Myoelectric Control of a Robotic Hip Exoskeleton Can Reduce the User's Lower-Limb Muscle Activities at Push Off |
title_fullStr |
Gastrocnemius Myoelectric Control of a Robotic Hip Exoskeleton Can Reduce the User's Lower-Limb Muscle Activities at Push Off |
title_full_unstemmed |
Gastrocnemius Myoelectric Control of a Robotic Hip Exoskeleton Can Reduce the User's Lower-Limb Muscle Activities at Push Off |
title_sort |
gastrocnemius myoelectric control of a robotic hip exoskeleton can reduce the user's lower-limb muscle activities at push off |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Neuroscience |
issn |
1662-453X |
publishDate |
2018-02-01 |
description |
We present a novel assistive control strategy for a robotic hip exoskeleton for assisting hip flexion/extension, based on a proportional Electromyography (EMG) strategy. The novelty of the proposed controller relies on the use of the Gastrocnemius Medialis (GM) EMG signal instead of a hip flexor muscle, to control the hip flexion torque. This strategy has two main advantages: first, avoiding the placement of the EMG electrodes at the human–robot interface can reduce discomfort issues for the user and motion artifacts of the recorded signals; second, using a powerful signal for control, such as the GM, could improve the reliability of the control system. The control strategy has been tested on eight healthy subjects, walking with the robotic hip exoskeleton on the treadmill. We evaluated the controller performance and the effect of the assistance on muscle activities. The tuning of the assistance timing in the controller was subject dependent and varied across subjects. Two muscles could benefit more from the assistive strategy, namely the Rectus Femoris (directly assisted) and the Tibialis Anterior (indirectly assisted). A significant correlation was found between the timing of the delivered assistance (i.e., synchronism with the biological hip torque), and reduction of the hip flexors muscular activity during walking; instead, no significant correlations were found for peak torque and peak power. Results suggest that the timing of the assistance is the most significant parameter influencing the effectiveness of the control strategy. The findings of this work could be important for future studies aimed at developing assistive strategies for walking assistance exoskeletons. |
topic |
exoskeleton EMG control gait hip orthosis walking assistance |
url |
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnins.2018.00071/full |
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