Mechanical Design and Evaluation of a Novel Knee-Ankle-Foot Robot for Rehabilitation

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gong Chen ◽  
Zhao Guo ◽  
Haoyong Yu
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Gait Training ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Gait Patterns ◽  
Gait Biomechanics ◽  
Leg Muscles ◽  
In Series ◽  
Translational Spring ◽  
Selection Of

This paper presents the mechanical design and evaluation of a knee-ankle-foot robot, which is compact, modular, and portable for stroke patients to carry out overground gait training at outpatient and home settings. The robot is driven by a novel series elastic actuator (SEA) for safe human-robot interaction. The SEA employs one soft translational spring in series with a stiff torsion spring to achieve high intrinsic compliance and the capacity of providing peak force. The robotic joint mechanism and the selection of the actuator springs are optimized based on gait biomechanics to achieve portability and capability. The robot demonstrated stable and accuracy force control in experiments conducted on healthy subjects with overground walking. Major leg muscles of the subjects showed reduced level of activations (Electromyography, EMG) while maintaining normal gait patterns with robotic assistances, indicating the robot’s capability of providing effective gait assistance.

Affective Goal and Task Selection for Social Robots

2009 ◽  
pp. 74-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Scheutz ◽  
Paul Schermerhorn
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Real World ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Task Selection ◽  
Resource Limitations ◽  
Effective Decision ◽  
Effective Decision Making ◽  
Selection Of

Effective decision-making under real-world conditions can be very difficult as purely rational methods of decision-making are often not feasible or applicable. Psychologists have long hypothesized that humans are able to cope with time and resource limitations by employing affective evaluations rather than rational ones. In this chapter, we present the distributed integrated affect cognition and reflection architecture DIARC for social robots intended for natural human-robot interaction and demonstrate the utility of its human-inspired affect mechanisms for the selection of tasks and goals. Specifically, we show that DIARC incorporates affect mechanisms throughout the architecture, which are based on “evaluation signals” generated in each architectural component to obtain quick and efficient estimates of the state of the component, and illustrate the operation and utility of these mechanisms with examples from human-robot interaction experiments.

Unified Virtual Guides Framework for Path Tracking Tasks

Robotica ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (10) ◽  
pp. 1807-1823 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leon Žlajpah ◽  
Tadej Petrič
Keyword(s):  
Control Algorithm ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Path Tracking ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Task Space ◽  
Admittance Control ◽  
Unified Framework ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Tracking Tasks ◽  
Selection Of

SUMMARYIn this paper, we propose a novel unified framework for virtual guides. The human–robot interaction is based on a virtual robot, which is controlled by the admittance control. The unified framework combines virtual guides, control of the dynamic behavior, and path tracking. Different virtual guides and active constraints can be realized by using dead-zones in the position part of the admittance controller. The proposed algorithm can act in a changing task space and allows selection of the tasks-space and redundant degrees-of-freedom during the task execution. The admittance control algorithm can be implemented either on a velocity or on acceleration level. The proposed framework has been validated by an experiment on a KUKA LWR robot performing the Buzz-Wire task.

scholarly journals Mechanical design and analysis of a novel variable stiffness actuator with symmetrical pivot adjustment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiwei Liu ◽  
Shipeng Cui ◽  
Yongjun Sun
Keyword(s):  
Modular Design ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Bending Moment ◽  
Variable Stiffness ◽  
Fast Response ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Asymmetric Structure ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Collaborative Robotics ◽  
Variable Stiffness Actuator

AbstractThe safety of human-robot interaction is an essential requirement for designing collaborative robotics. Thus, this paper aims to design a novel variable stiffness actuator (VSA) that can provide safer physical human-robot interaction for collaborative robotics. VSA follows the idea of modular design, mainly including a variable stiffness module and a drive module. The variable stiffness module transmits the motion from the drive module in a roundabout manner, making the modularization of VSA possible. As the key component of the variable stiffness module, a stiffness adjustment mechanism with a symmetrical structure is applied to change the positions of a pair of pivots in two levers linearly and simultaneously, which can eliminate the additional bending moment caused by the asymmetric structure. The design of the double-deck grooves in the lever allows the pivot to move freely in the groove, avoiding the geometric constraint between the parts. Consequently, the VSA stiffness can change from zero to infinity as the pivot moves from one end of the groove to the other. To facilitate building a manipulator in the future, an expandable electrical system with a distributed structure is also proposed. Stiffness calibration and control experiments are performed to evaluate the physical performance of the designed VSA. Experiment results show that the VSA stiffness is close to the theoretical design stiffness. Furthermore, the VSA with a proportional-derivative feedback plus feedforward controller exhibits a fast response for stiffness regulation and a good performance for position tracking.

Affective Goal and Task Selection for Social Robots

2010 ◽  
pp. 2150-2163
Author(s):  
Matthias Scheutz ◽  
Paul Schermerhorn
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Real World ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Task Selection ◽  
Resource Limitations ◽  
Effective Decision ◽  
Effective Decision Making ◽  
Selection Of

Effective decision-making under real-world conditions can be very difficult as purely rational methods of decision-making are often not feasible or applicable. Psychologists have long hypothesized that humans are able to cope with time and resource limitations by employing affective evaluations rather than rational ones. In this chapter, we present the distributed integrated affect cognition and reflection architecture DIARC for social robots intended for natural human-robot interaction and demonstrate the utility of its human-inspired affect mechanisms for the selection of tasks and goals. Specifically, we show that DIARC incorporates affect mechanisms throughout the architecture, which are based on “evaluation signals” generated in each architectural component to obtain quick and efficient estimates of the state of the component, and illustrate the operation and utility of these mechanisms with examples from human-robot interaction experiments.

Mechanical Design of a Low-Impedance 6-Degree-of-Freedom Displacement Sensor for Intuitive Physical Human-Robot Interaction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Gabriel Boucher ◽  
Thierry Laliberte ◽  
Clement Gosselin
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Degree Of Freedom ◽  
Displacement Sensor ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Serial Robot ◽  
Kinematic Sensitivity ◽  
Impedance Sensor ◽  
Forward Kinematic ◽  
Six Degree Of Freedom

Abstract This paper presents the mechanical design of a six-degree-of-freedom low-impedance displacement sensor. The sensor is mounted around a link of a serial robot and used as an interface for physical human-robot interaction. The motivation for the use of a low-impedance sensor is first discussed. The mechanical design of each of the elastic components of the sensor is then presented. The kinematic architecture of the mechanism is introduced and the inverse and forward kinematic problems are solved. The kinematic sensitivity is then used to characterize the accuracy of the mechanism. Finally, the design of a prototype is presented and experimental results are provided.

scholarly journals MECHANICAL DESIGN OF THE HUGGABLE ROBOT PROBO

2011 ◽  
Vol 08 (03) ◽  
pp. 481-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
KRISTOF GORIS ◽  
JELLE SALDIEN ◽  
BRAM VANDERBORGHT ◽  
DIRK LEFEBER
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
High Precision ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Nonverbal Cues ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Communicative Skills ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Safety Aspects

This paper reports on the mechanical design of the huggable robot Probo. Its intentions include human–robot interaction (HRI), both physical and cognitive, with a special focus on children. Since most of the communication passes through nonverbal cues and since people rely on face-to-face communication, the focus of Probo's communicative skills lies initially on facial expressions. The robot has 20 high-precision motors in its head and body. They are used to actuate the ears, eyebrows, eyelids, eyes, trunk, mouth, and neck. To build safety aspects intrinsically in the robot's hardware, all the motors are linked with flexible components. In case of a collision, the robot will be elastic and safety will be ensured. The mechanics of Probo are covered by protecting plastic shells, foam, and soft fur. This gives Probo's animal-like look and makes the robot huggable.

scholarly journals Implementation of Human Robot Interaction on UDOO Board

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Min Raj Nepali ◽  
Priyanka C Karthik ◽  
Jharna Majumdar
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Control Algorithms ◽  
Careful Selection ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Interactive Application ◽  
Selection Of

<p>Advanced Robot for Interactive Application (ARIA) is a Humanoid Robotic Head which is capable of mimicking Various Human Facial Expressions. Much work has been done on Implementation of Humanoid Robotic Head with High end systems and Personal Computers (PCs). This paper presents the essential elements necessary for the implementation of Advanced Robot for Interactive Application (ARIA) on UDOO Board. The main aim of the Project was to develop a control system and Graphical User Interface (GUI) for ARIA to deliver real time human facial expressions using embedded board. Humanoid Robotic Head which is capable of mimicking Human Facial Expressions in Real time. Implementation of ARIA   involved careful selection of Embedded Board, actuators, control algorithms, motor drivers, operating system, communication protocols, and programming languages. The Board contains a Quad Core A9 Processor and a Controller embedded on it, which are interconnected. In this project the controller is dedicated to control micro servo motors which are controlling eyes, eyebrows and eyelids movements whereas the Processor Handles the Dynamixel motors, GUI and different communication modules.</p>

Design and Validation of a Talking Face for the iCub

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (03) ◽  
pp. 1550026 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Parmiggiani ◽  
Marco Randazzo ◽  
Marco Maggiali ◽  
Giorgio Metta ◽  
Frederic Elisei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Humanoid Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Mcgurk Effect ◽  
Elastic Tissue ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Control Scheme ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Talking Face

Recent developments in human–robot interaction show how the ability to communicate with people in a natural way is of great importance for artificial agents. The implementation of facial expressions has been found to significantly increase the interaction capabilities of humanoid robots. For speech, displaying a correct articulation with sound is mandatory to avoid audiovisual illusions like the McGurk effect (leading to comprehension errors) as well as to enhance the intelligibility in noisy conditions. This work describes the design, construction and testing of an animatronic talking face developed for the iCub robot. This talking head has an articulated jaw and four independent lip movements actuated by five motors. It is covered by a specially designed elastic tissue cover whose hemlines at the lips are attached to the motors via connecting linkages. The mechanical design and the control scheme have been evaluated by speech intelligibility in noise (SPIN) perceptual tests that demonstrate an absolute 10% intelligibility gain provided by the jaw and lip movements over the audio-only display.

scholarly journals Wearable Biofeedback Improves Human-Robot Compliance during Ankle-Foot Exoskeleton-Assisted Gait Training: A Pre-Post Controlled Study in Healthy Participants

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (20) ◽  
pp. 5876
Author(s):  
Cristiana Pinheiro ◽  
Joana Figueiredo ◽  
Nuno Magalhães ◽  
Cristina P. Santos
Keyword(s):  
Group Performance ◽  
Gait Training ◽  
User Participation ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
P Value ◽  
Joint Motion ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Post Stroke ◽  
Healthy Participants

The adjunctive use of biofeedback systems with exoskeletons may accelerate post-stroke gait rehabilitation. Wearable patient-oriented human-robot interaction-based biofeedback is proposed to improve patient-exoskeleton compliance regarding the interaction torque’s direction (joint motion strategy) and magnitude (user participation strategy) through auditory and vibrotactile cues during assisted gait training, respectively. Parallel physiotherapist-oriented strategies are also proposed such that physiotherapists can follow in real-time a patient’s motor performance towards effective involvement during training. A preliminary pre-post controlled study was conducted with eight healthy participants to conclude about the biofeedback’s efficacy during gait training driven by an ankle-foot exoskeleton and guided by a technical person. For the study group, performance related to the interaction torque’s direction increased during (p-value = 0.07) and after (p-value = 0.07) joint motion training. Further, the performance regarding the interaction torque’s magnitude significantly increased during (p-value = 0.03) and after (p-value = 68.59 × 10−3) user participation training. The experimental group and a technical person reported promising usability of the biofeedback and highlighted the importance of the timely cues from physiotherapist-oriented strategies. Less significant improvements in patient–exoskeleton compliance were observed in the control group. The overall findings suggest that the proposed biofeedback was able to improve the participant-exoskeleton compliance by enhancing human-robot interaction; thus, it may be a powerful tool to accelerate post-stroke ankle-foot deformity recovery.

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