scholarly journals Estimation of the Two Degrees-of-Freedom Time-Varying Impedance of the Human Ankle

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Evandro Ficanha ◽  
Guilherme Ribeiro ◽  
Lauren Knop ◽  
Mo Rastgaar
Keyword(s):  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Mechanical Impedance ◽  
Heel Strike ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Two Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Impedance Modulation ◽  
Ankle Stiffness ◽  
Human Ankle ◽  
Stiffness And Damping ◽  
And Inversion

An understanding of the time-varying mechanical impedance of the ankle during walking is fundamental in the design of active ankle-foot prostheses and lower extremity rehabilitation devices. This paper describes the estimation of the time-varying mechanical impedance of the human ankle in both dorsiflexion–plantarflexion (DP) and inversion–eversion (IE) during walking in a straight line. The impedance was estimated using a two degrees-of-freedom (DOF) vibrating platform and instrumented walkway. The perturbations were applied at eight different axes of rotation combining different amounts of DP and IE rotations of four male subjects. The observed stiffness and damping were low at heel strike, increased during the mid-stance, and decreases at push-off. At heel strike, it was observed that both the damping and stiffness were larger in IE than in DP. The maximum average ankle stiffness was 5.43 N·m/rad/kg at 31% of the stance length (SL) when combining plantarflexion and inversion and the minimum average was 1.14 N·m/rad/kg at 7% of the SL when combining dorsiflexion and eversion. The maximum average ankle damping was 0.080 Nms/rad/kg at 38% of the SL when combining plantarflexion and inversion, and the minimum average was 0.016 Nms/rad/kg at 7% of the SL when combining plantarflexion and eversion. From 23% to 93% of the SL, the largest ankle stiffness and damping occurred during the combination of plantarflexion and inversion or dorsiflexion and eversion. These rotations are the resulting motion of the ankle's subtalar joint, suggesting that the role of this joint and the muscles involved in the ankle rotation are significant in the impedance modulation in both DP and IE during gait.

scholarly journals Impedance of the Human Ankle During Standing for Posture Control

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Ribeiro ◽  
E. Ficanha ◽  
L. Knop ◽  
M. Rastgaar
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Impedance ◽  
Posture Control ◽  
Resultant Force ◽  
Order System ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Ankle Impedance ◽  
Impedance Modulation ◽  
Human Ankle ◽  
Stiffness And Damping ◽  
Antagonistic Muscles

The stiffness and damping of anatomical joints can be modulated by muscle co-contraction, where antagonistic muscles contract simultaneously, increasing both the joint’s stiffness and damping. In a second order system, the mechanical impedance, or simply impedance, is a function of the system’s inertia, damping, and stiffness. The ankle impedance can be defined as the resultant force due to an external motion perturbation. The impedance modulation of the human ankle is required for stable walking. The estimation of the time-varying impedance modulation of the human ankle is the focus of research by different groups [1,2].

Instrumented Walkway for Estimation of the Ankle Impedance in Dorsiflexion-Plantarflexion and Inversion-Eversion During Standing and Walking

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evandro M. Ficanha ◽  
Guilherme Ribeiro ◽  
Mohammad Rastgaar Aagaah
Keyword(s):  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Force Plate ◽  
Mechanical Impedance ◽  
Standing Position ◽  
Camera System ◽  
Ankle Impedance ◽  
System A ◽  
Human Ankle ◽  
Applied Forces ◽  
And Inversion

This paper describes in detail the fabrication of an instrumented walkway for estimation of the ankle mechanical impedance in both dorsiflexion-plantarflexion (DP) and in inversion-eversion (IE) directions during walking in arbitrary directions and standing. The platform consists of two linear actuators, each capable of generating ±351.3 N peak force that are mechanically coupled to a force plate using Bowden cables. The applied forces cause the force plate to rotate in two degrees of freedom (DOF) and transfer torques to the human ankle to generate DP and IE rotations. The relative rotational motion of the foot with respect to the shin is recorded using a motion capture camera system while the forces applied to the foot are measured with the force plate, from which the torques applied to the ankle are calculated. The analytical methods required for the estimation of the ankle torques, rotations, and impedances are presented. To validate the system, a mockup with known stiffness was used, and it was shown that the developed system was capable of properly estimating the stiffness of the mockup in two DOF with less than 5% error. Also, a preliminary experiment with a human subject in standing position was performed, and the estimated quasi-static impedance of the ankle was estimated at 319 Nm/rad in DP and 119 Nm/rad in IE.

Estimation of the 2-DOF Time-Varying Impedance of the Human Ankle

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evandro Ficanha ◽  
Guilherme Aramizo Ribeiro ◽  
Lauren Knop ◽  
Mohammad Rastgaar Aagaah
Keyword(s):  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Muscle Activation ◽  
Stance Phase ◽  
Impedance Control ◽  
The Body ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Ankle Impedance ◽  
Impedance Modulation ◽  
Human Ankle ◽  
Vibrating Platform

The human ankle plays a major role in locomotion as it the first major joint to transfer the ground reaction torques to the rest of the body while providing power for locomotion and stability. One of the main causes of the ankle impedance modulation is muscle activation [1, 2], which can tune the ankle’s stiffness and damping during the stance phase of gait. The ankle’s time-varying impedance is also task dependent, meaning that different activities such as walking at different speeds, turning, and climbing/descending stairs would impose different profiles of time-varying impedance modulation. The impedance control is commonly used in the control of powered ankle-foot prostheses; however, the information on time-varying impedance of the ankle during the stance phase is limited in the literature. The only previous study during the stance phase, to the best of the authors knowledge, reported the human ankle impedance at four points of the stance phase in dorsiflexion-plantarflexion (DP) [1] during walking. To expand previous work and estimate the impedance in inversion-eversion (IE), a vibrating platform was fabricated (Fig. 1) [3]. The platform allows the ankle impedance to be estimated at 250 Hz in both DP and IE, including combined rotations in both degrees of freedom (DOF) simultaneously. The results can be used in a 2-DOF powered ankle-foot prosthesis developed by the authors, which is capable of mimicking the ankle kinetics and kinematics in the frontal and sagittal planes [4]. The vibrating platform can also be used to tune the prosthesis to assure it properly mimics the human ankle dynamics. This paper describes the results of the preliminary experiments using the vibrating platform on 4 male subjects. For the first time, the time-varying impedance of the human ankle in both DP and IE during walking in a straight line are reported.

Stochastic Estimation of Human Ankle Mechanical Impedance in Lateral/Medial Rotation

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evandro M. Ficanha ◽  
Mohammad Rastgaar
Keyword(s):  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Muscle Activation ◽  
Transfer Functions ◽  
Linear Time ◽  
Mechanical Impedance ◽  
Linear Time Invariant ◽  
Ankle Impedance ◽  
Human Ankle ◽  
Medial Rotation ◽  
The Difference

This article compares stochastic estimates of human ankle mechanical impedance when ankle muscles were fully relaxed and co-contracting antagonistically. We employed Anklebot, a rehabilitation robot for the ankle to provide torque perturbations. Surface electromyography (EMG) was used to monitor muscle activation levels and these EMG signals were displayed to subjects who attempted to maintain them constant. Time histories of ankle torques and angles in the lateral/medial (LM) directions were recorded. The results also compared with the ankle impedance in inversion-eversion (IE) and dorsiflexion-plantarflexion (DP). Linear time-invariant transfer functions between the measured torques and angles were estimated for the Anklebot alone and when a human subject wore it; the difference between these functions provided an estimate of ankle mechanical impedance. High coherence was observed over a frequency range up to 30 Hz. The main effect of muscle activation was to increase the magnitude of ankle mechanical impedance in all degrees of freedom of ankle.

A wavelet transform and substructure algorithm for tracking the abrupt stiffness degradation of shear structure

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 1136-1148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Wang ◽  
Demi Ai ◽  
Wei-Xin Ren
Keyword(s):  
Wavelet Transform ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Least Square Method ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Stiffness Degradation ◽  
Discrete Wavelet ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Engineering Structures ◽  
Shear Structure ◽  
Stiffness And Damping

Time-varying parameter identification is an important research topic for structural health monitoring, performance evaluation, damage diagnosis, and maintenance. Practical civil engineering structures usually contain multiple degrees of freedom; however, damage often locally occurs. In this study, a discrete wavelet transform and substructure algorithm is presented for tracking the abrupt stiffness degradation of shear structures. A substructure model is built by the extraction of the local structure which may contain damaged region. Time-varying stiffness and damping are expanded into multi-scales using discrete wavelet analysis. An optimization method based on Akaike information criterion is introduced to select the decomposition scale. The expanded scale coefficients are evaluated using least square method, then the original time-varying stiffness or damping parameter is identified by reconstructing from the scale coefficients. To validate the proposed method, a numerical example of seven-story shear structure with time-varying stiffness and damping is proposed. Experiment for a three-story shear-type structure with abrupt stiffness degradation is also tested in the laboratory. Both numerical and experimental results indicate that the proposed method can effectively identify the abrupt degradation of stiffness parameter with a satisfactory accuracy.

Impedance Modulation and Feedback Corrections in Tracking Targets of Variable Size and Frequency

2006 ◽  
Vol 96 (5) ◽  
pp. 2750-2759 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc P. J. Selen ◽  
Jaap H. van Dieën ◽  
Peter J. Beek
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Impedance ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Target Size ◽  
Movement Variability ◽  
Tracking Accuracy ◽  
Task Execution ◽  
Tracking Errors ◽  
Impedance Modulation ◽  
Movement Frequency ◽  
Stiffness And Damping

Humans are able to adjust the accuracy of their movements to the demands posed by the task at hand. The variability in task execution caused by the inherent noisiness of the neuromuscular system can be tuned to task demands by both feedforward (e.g., impedance modulation) and feedback mechanisms. In this experiment, we studied both mechanisms, using mechanical perturbations to estimate stiffness and damping as indices of impedance modulation and submovement scaling as an index of feedback driven corrections. Eight subjects tracked three differently sized targets (0.0135, 0.0270, and 0.0405 rad) moving at three different frequencies (0.20, 0.25, and 0.33 Hz). Movement variability decreased with both decreasing target size and movement frequency, whereas stiffness and damping increased with decreasing target size, independent of movement frequency. These results are consistent with the theory that mechanical impedance acts as a filter of noisy neuromuscular signals but challenge stochastic theories of motor control that do not account for impedance modulation and only partially for feedback control. Submovements during unperturbed cycles were quantified in terms of their gain, i.e., the slope between their duration and amplitude in the speed profile. Submovement gain decreased with decreasing movement frequency and increasing target size. The results were interpreted to imply that submovement gain is related to observed tracking errors and that those tracking errors are expressed in units of target size. We conclude that impedance and submovement gain modulation contribute additively to tracking accuracy.

scholarly journals Ankle Mechanical Impedance Under Muscle Fatigue

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuo Wang ◽  
Hyunglae Lee ◽  
Neville Hogan
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Fatigue ◽  
Tibialis Anterior ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Mechanical Impedance ◽  
Muscle Group ◽  
Triceps Surae ◽  
Ankle Injuries ◽  
Two Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Triceps Surae Muscle

This paper reports preliminary results on the effects of ankle muscle fatigue on ankle mechanical impedance. The experiment was designed to induce fatigue in the Tibialis Anterior and Triceps Surae muscle group by asking subjects to perform isometric contractions against a constant ankle torque generated by the Anklebot, a backdriveable robot that interacts with the ankle in two degrees of freedom. Median frequencies of surface electromyographic signals collected from Tibialis Anterior and Triceps Surae muscle group were evaluated to assess muscle fatigue. Using a standard multi-input and multi-output stochastic impedance identification method, multivariable ankle mechanical impedance was measured in two degrees of freedom under muscle fatigue. Preliminary results indicate that, for both Tibialis Anterior and Triceps Surae muscle group, ankle mechanical impedance decreases in both the dorsi-plantarflexion and inversion-eversion directions under muscle fatigue. This finding suggests that decreasing ankle impedance with muscle fatigue may help to develop joint support systems to prevent ankle injuries caused by muscle fatigue.

HHT-Based Modal Parameter Identification of Time-Varying Structures and Experiment Study

2011 ◽  
Vol 243-249 ◽  
pp. 5444-5449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xue Min Wang ◽  
Fang Lin Huang
Keyword(s):  
Parameter Identification ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Modal Parameters ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Modal Parameter ◽  
Modal Parameter Identification ◽  
Hilbert Huang Transform ◽  
Mode Decomposition ◽  
Continuous Mass ◽  
Stiffness And Damping

A method for modal parameter identification of time-varying structures based on Hilbert- Huang transform (HHT) is presented. Theoretical formulas for identifying the modal frequency and damping radio using the displacement response of a time-varying SDOF structure are deduced. Taking advantage of modal filtering characteristics of empirical mode decomposition (EMD), the presented method is expanded to identify the modal parameters of MDOF structures. Numerical simulation of a three degrees of freedom structure with time-varying stiffness and damping show the validity of the method. Finally, a time-varying structure experiment is designed to further study the method. The experimental device is a cantilever beam. By adjusting the adjunctive mass and stiffness, two kinds of time-varying structures with continuous mass change and stiffness change is realized respectively. Modal parameters are identified from the free acceleration response of the beam.

Directional Variation of Active and Passive Ankle Static Impedance

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Ho ◽  
Hyunglae Lee ◽  
Hermano Igo Krebs ◽  
Neville Hogan
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Contraction ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Mechanical Impedance ◽  
Active Muscle ◽  
Two Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Static Component ◽  
Ankle Impedance ◽  
Directional Variation

Though ankle mechanical impedance plays an important role in posture and locomotion, it has been inadequately characterized. Unlike previous studies, which confined themselves to measurements along the primary axes of the ankle in an isolated fashion, the study reported here characterized the static component of ankle impedance in two degrees of freedom. In addition, the effect of active muscle contraction on ankle static impedance was measured. We found that ankle static impedance varied significantly with direction under passive conditions. We further observed that, while muscle contraction increased the magnitude of ankle static impedance, its directional variation was essentially unchanged.

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