MORE | Fall 2021

Combined Effect of Variable Stiffness and Damping Controller to Correct and Augment Ankle Motion

Human walking is associated with exertion that results in muscle fatigue. Fatigue is an important parameter that determines the deviation of abnormal gait. But accurate forces to an abnormal gait using robots can reduce muscle fatigue and correct the gait deviation. This active control of the ankle assisting device features a variable impedance controller. This research experiments variable stiffness during the stance phase and variable damping during the swing phase. Stability of human-robot interaction dynamics compared to constant impedance control schemes. And muscle activity at various robot control schemes is also compared with this novel scheme.