Walking assistance of subjects with spinal cord injury with an ankle exoskeleton and neuromuscular controller

Conference paper (2018)

Authors

M. Arquilla Fondazione Santa Lucia (IRCCS)
I. Pisotta Fondazione Santa Lucia (IRCCS)
F. Tamburella Fondazione Santa Lucia (IRCCS)
Nevio L. Tagliamonte Fondazione Santa Lucia (IRCCS)
M. Masciullo Fondazione Santa Lucia (IRCCS)
A. R. Wu Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
C. Meijneke EMSD EEMCS Project engineers M
H. van der Kooij University of Twente, Biomechatronics & Human-Machine Control - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
Auke J. Ijspeert Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
M. Molinari Fondazione Santa Lucia (IRCCS)
Research Group
Biomechatronics & Human-Machine Control (Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering) (TU Delft)
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Published Date

2018

Language

English

Reuse Rights

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Faculty

Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

Department

Biomechanical Engineering

Research Group

Biomechatronics & Human-Machine Control

Abstract

This work was devoted to preliminary test the Achilles ankle exoskeleton and its NeuroMuscular Controller (NMC) with a test pilot affected by incomplete spinal cord injury. The customization of the robot controller, i.e. a subject-specific tailoring of the assistance level, was performed and a 10-session training to optimize human-robot interaction was finalized. Results demonstrated that controller tuning was in line with the functional clinical assessment. NMC adapted to the variable walking speed during the training and the test pilot was successfully trained in exploiting robotic support and also improved his performance in terms of walking speed and stability. After the training, a higher speed could also be achieved during free walking and hence a slight unexpected rehabilitation effect was evidenced.

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