Assistive Mobility Control of a Robotic Hip-Knee Exoskeleton for Gait Training

In this paper, we present an assistive mobility control for a robotic hip-knee exoskeleton intended for gait training. The robotic hip-knee exoskeleton is designed with an active flexion/extension and a passive abduction/adduction at each hip joint and an active flexion/extension at each knee joint to comply with the movement of lower limbs. While facilitating walking with the robotic exoskeleton, model-free linear extended state observer (LESO)-based controllers are proposed for gait control, in which the LESO is used to deal with each user's different lower limb parameters and unknown exerted torques. Walking and ascending experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed methods, and the results are shown with respect to walking parameters. Moreover, a preliminary study for an extended application to the recovery of normal gaits that relieves the freezing of gait (FOG) in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients is also investigated in the paper.

Automated summary

This paper presents an assistive mobility control system for a robotic hip-knee exoskeleton designed for gait training. The system utilizes model-free linear extended state observers to handle individual lower limb parameters and unknown torques. Experimental evaluations were conducted to assess the performance of the proposed methods. Additionally, a preliminary study on the system's extended application for relieving freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease patients was also investigated.