Assessment methodology for human-exoskeleton interactions: Kinetic analysis based on muscle activation.

Front Neurorobot

Department of Advanced Robotics (ADVR), Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Genova, Italy.

Published: October 2022

AI Article Synopsis

  • The development and assessment of exoskeletons involve extensive analyses, particularly focused on muscle activation, metabolic consumption, kinematics, and kinetics, with a heavy emphasis on kinetic analyses for evaluating force and torque exchanges.
  • The proposed methodology simplifies the kinetic analysis process by utilizing EMG and motion capture data to compute kinetic parameters like torque and power without requiring complex ground reaction force measurements, significantly reducing equipment needs and data analysis complexity.
  • This new approach not only enhances statistical validity by allowing for a higher cycle analysis compared to traditional methods but also aligns with the User-Centered Design principles, facilitating a feedback-driven development process for exoskeletons.

Article Abstract

During the development and assessment of an exoskeleton, many different analyzes need to be performed. The most frequently used evaluate the changes in muscle activations, metabolic consumption, kinematics, and kinetics. Since human-exoskeleton interactions are based on the exchange of forces and torques, the latter of these, kinetic analyzes, are essential and provide indispensable evaluation indices. Kinetic analyzes, however, require access to, and use of, complex experimental apparatus, involving many instruments and implicating lengthy data analysis processes. The proposed methodology in this paper, which is based on data collected EMG and motion capture systems, considerably reduces this burden by calculating kinetic parameters, such as torque and power, without needing ground reaction force measurements. This considerably reduces the number of instruments used, allows the calculation of kinetic parameters even when the use of force sensors is problematic, does not need any dedicated software, and will be shown to have high statistical validity. The method, in fact, combines data found in the literature with those collected in the laboratory, allowing the analysis to be carried out over a much greater number of cycles than would normally be collected with force plates, thus enabling easy access to statistical analysis. This new approach evaluates the kinetic effects of the exoskeleton with respect to changes induced in the user's kinematics and muscular activation patterns and provides indices that quantify the assistance in terms of torque (AMI) and power (API). Following the User-Center Design approach, which requires driving the development process as feedback from the assessment process, this aspect is critical. Therefore, by enabling easy access to the assessment process, the development of exoskeletons could be positively affected.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9643542PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbot.2022.982950DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

human-exoskeleton interactions
8
kinetic analyzes
8
considerably reduces
8
kinetic parameters
8
enabling easy
8
easy access
8
assessment process
8
kinetic
6
assessment
4
assessment methodology
4

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!