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Creators/Authors contains: "Gregg, Robert D."

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  1. ; ( , IEEE transactions on control systems technology)
    This paper presents a method to design a nonholonomic virtual constraint (NHVC) controller that produces multiple distinct stance-phase trajectories for corresponding walking speeds. NHVCs encode velocity-dependent joint trajectories via momenta conjugate to the unactuated degree(s)-of-freedom of the system. We recently introduced a method for designing NHVCs that allow for stable bipedal robotic walking across variable terrain slopes. This work extends the notion of NHVCs for application to variable-cadence powered prostheses. Using the segmental conjugate momentum for the prosthesis, an optimization problem is used to design a single stance-phase NHVC for three distinct walking speed trajectories (slow, normal, and fast). Thismore »stance-phase controller is implemented with a holonomic swing phase controller on a powered knee-ankle prosthesis, and experiments are conducted with an able-bodied user walking in steady and non-steady velocity conditions. The control scheme is capable of representing 1) multiple, task-dependent reference trajectories, and 2) walking gait variance due to both temporal and kinematic changes in user motion.« less
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available December 1, 2022
  2. ; ; ; ( , IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation)
    Passive prostheses cannot provide the net positive work required at the knee and ankle for step-over stair ascent. Powered prostheses can provide this net positive work, but user synchronization of joint motion and power input are critical to enabling natural stair ascent gaits. In this work, we build on previous phase variable-based control methods for walking and propose a stair ascent controller driven by the motion of the user's residual thigh. We use reference kinematics from an able-bodied dataset to produce knee and ankle joint trajectories parameterized by gait phase. We redefine the gait cycle to begin at the pointmore »of maximum hip flexion instead of heel strike to improve the phase estimate. Able-bodied bypass adapter experiments demonstrate that the phase variable controller replicates normative able-bodied kinematic trajectories with a root mean squared error of 12.66 deg and 2.64 deg for the knee and ankle, respectively. The knee and ankle joints provided on average 0.387J/kg and 0.212J/kg per stride, compared to the normative averages of 0.335J/kg and 0.207J/kg, respectively. Thus, this controller allows powered knee-ankle prostheses to perform net positive mechanical work to assist stair ascent.« less
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available January 1, 2023
  3. ; ; ; ; ( , IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters)
    Mobility disabilities are prominent in society with wide-ranging deficits, motivating modular, partial-assist, lower-limb exoskeletons for this heterogeneous population. This paper introduces the Modular Backdrivable Lower-limb Unloading Exoskeleton (M-BLUE), which implements high torque, low mechanical impedance actuators on commercial orthoses with sheet metal modifications to produce a variety of hip- and/or knee-assisting configurations. Benchtop system identification verifies the desirable backdrive properties of the actuator, and allows for torque prediction within 0.4 Nm. An able-bodied human subject experiment demonstrates that three unilateral configurations of M-BLUE (hip only, knee only, and hip-knee) with a simple gravity compensation controller can reduce muscle EMG readingsmore »in a lifting and lowering task relative to the bare condition. Reductions in mean muscular effort and peak muscle activation were seen across the primary squat musculature (excluding biceps femoris), demonstrating the potential to reduce fatigue leading to poor lifting posture. These promising results motivate applications of M-BLUE to additional populations, and the expansion of M-BLUE to bilateral and ankle configurations.« less
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available January 1, 2023
  4. ; ; ; ( , Mechatronics)
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available November 1, 2022
  5. ; ( , Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics)
    Abstract This paper explores new ways to use energy shaping and regulation methods in walking systems to generate new passive-like gaits and dynamically transition between them. We recapitulate a control framework for Lagrangian hybrid systems, and show that regulating a state varying energy function is equivalent to applying energy shaping and regulating the system to a constant energy value. We then consider a simple one-dimensional hopping robot and show how energy shaping and regulation control can be used to generate and transition between nearly globally stable hopping limit cycles. The principles from this example are then applied on two canonicalmore »walking models, the spring loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP) and compass gait biped, to generate and transition between locomotive gaits. These examples show that piecewise jumps in control parameters can be used to achieve stable changes in desired gait characteristics dynamically/online.« less
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available September 1, 2022
  6. ; ( , Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Decision Control)
    In this work, we introduce a novel approach to assistive exoskeleton (or powered orthosis) control which avoids needing task and gait phase information. Our approach is based on directly designing the Hamiltonian dynamics of the target closed-loop behavior, shaping the energy of the human and the robot. Relative to previous energy shaping controllers for assistive exoskeletons, we introduce ground reaction force and torque information into the target behavior definition, reformulate the kinematics so as to avoid explicit matching conditions due to under-actuation, and avoid the need to switch between swing and stance energy shapes. Our controller introduces new states intomore »the target Hamiltonian energy that represent a virtual second leg that is connected to the physical leg using virtual springs. The impulse the human imparts to the physical leg is amplified and applied to the virtual leg, but the ground reaction force acts only on the physical leg. A state transformation allows the proposed control to be available using only encoders, an IMU, and ground reaction force sensors. We prove that this controller is stable and passive when acted on by the ground reaction force and demonstrate the controller's strength amplifying behavior in a simulation. A linear analysis based on small signal assumptions allows us to explain the relationship between our tuning parameters and the frequency domain amplification bandwidth.« less
    Accepted Manuscript Full Text Available
  7. ; ; ( , IEEE Access)
    Full Text Available 
  8. ; ( , IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering)
    Powered prosthetic legs can improve the quality of life for people with transfemoral amputations by providing net positive work at the knee and ankle, reducing the effort required from the wearer, and making more tasks possible. However, the controllers for these devices use finite state machines that limit their use to a small set of pre-defined tasks that require many hours of tuning for each user. In previous work, we demonstrated that a continuous parameterization of joint kinematics over walking speeds and inclines provides more accurate predictions of reference kinematics for control than a finite state machine. However, our previousmore »work did not account for measurement errors in gait phase, walking speed, and ground incline, nor subject-specific differences in reference kinematics, which occur in practice. In this work, we conduct a pilot experiment to characterize the accuracy of speed and incline measurements using sensors onboard our prototype prosthetic leg and simulate phase measurements on ten able-bodied subjects using archived motion capture data. Our analysis shows that given demonstrated accuracy for speed, incline, and phase estimation, a continuous parameterization provides statistically significantly better predictions of knee and ankle kinematics than a comparable finite state machine, but both methods' primary source of predictive error is subject deviation from average kinematics.« less
    Full Text Available 
  9. ; ; ; ( , IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications)
    This paper presents a new model and phase-variable controller for sit-to-stand motion in above-knee amputees. The model captures the effect of work done by the sound side and residual limb on the prosthesis, while modeling only the prosthetic knee and ankle with a healthy hip joint that connects the thigh to the torso. The controller is parametrized by a biomechanical phase variable rather than time and is analyzed in simulation using the model. We show that this controller performs well with minimal tuning, under a range of realistic initial conditions and biological parameters such as height and body mass. Themore »controller generates kinematic trajectories that are comparable to experimentally observed trajectories in non-amputees. Furthermore, the torques commanded by the controller are consistent with torque profiles and peak values of normative human sit-to-stand motion. Rise times measured in simulation and in non-amputee experiments are also similar. Finally, we compare the presented controller with a baseline proportional-derivative controller demonstrating the advantages of the phase-based design over a set-point based design.« less
    Accepted Manuscript Full Text Available
  10. ; ; ; ( , IEEE Control Systems Letters)
    Task-invariant control methods for powered exoskeletons provide flexibility in assisting humans across multiple activities and environments. Energy shaping control serves this purpose by altering the human body’s dynamic characteristics in closed loop. Our previous work on potential energy shaping alters the gravitational vector to reduce the user’s perceived gravity, but this method cannot provide velocity-dependent assistance. The interconnection and damping assignment passivity-based control (IDA-PBC) method provides more freedom to shape a dynamical system’s energy through the interconnection structure of a port-controlled Hamiltonian system model. This paper derives a novel energetic control strategy based on IDA-PBC for a backdrivable knee-ankle exoskeleton.more »The control law provides torques that depend on various basis functions related to gravitational and gyroscopic terms. We optimize a set of constant weighting parameters for these basis functions to obtain a control law that produces able-bodied joint torques during walking on multiple ground slopes. We perform experiments with an able-bodied human subject wearing a knee-ankle exoskeleton to demonstrate reduced activation in certain lower-limb muscles.« less
    Full Text Available