Design and control of an active artificial knee joint

A passive above knee prosthesis being currently in use does not respond adequately to the needs of daily living activities of an amputee due to its limited functions. Therefore, this study deals with design and testing of an active above knee prosthesis. The essential part of this prosthesis is the knee joint actuator based on active control of basic flexion and extension functions of the knee joint with the motor. The imitation of walking gait pattern by the proposed prosthesis was provided with a trajectory control scheme for the knee joint angle in accordance with the necessity of rule-based control approach. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.