{"title":"Virtual muscles and reflex control generates human-like ankle torques during gait perturbations.","authors":"Sandra Hnat, Antonie J van den Bogert","doi":"10.1177/09544119241272766","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A biologically-inspired actuation system, including muscles, spinal reflexes, and vestibular feedback, may be capable of achieving more natural gait mechanics in powered prostheses or exoskeletons. In this study, we developed a Virtual Muscle Reflex (VMR) system to control ankle torque and tuned it using data from human responses to anteroposterior mechanical perturbations at three walking speeds. The system consists of three Hill-Type muscles, simulated in real time, and uses feedback from ground reaction force and from stretch sensors on the virtual muscle fibers. Controller gains, muscle properties, and reflex/vestibular time delays were optimized using Covariance Matrix Adaptation (CMA) to minimize the difference between the VMR torque output and the torque measured from the experiment. We repeated the procedure using a conventional finite-state impedance controller. For both controllers, the coefficient of determination (<math><mrow><msup><mrow><mi>R</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></math>) and root-mean-square error (RMSE) was calculated as a function of time within the gait cycle. The VMR had lower RMSE than the impedance controller in 70%, and in 60% of the trials, the <math><mrow><msup><mrow><mi>R</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></math> of the VMR controller was higher than for the impedance controller. We concluded that the VMR system can better reproduce the human responses to perturbations than the impedance controller.</p>","PeriodicalId":20666,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09544119241272766","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/8/13 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, BIOMEDICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
A biologically-inspired actuation system, including muscles, spinal reflexes, and vestibular feedback, may be capable of achieving more natural gait mechanics in powered prostheses or exoskeletons. In this study, we developed a Virtual Muscle Reflex (VMR) system to control ankle torque and tuned it using data from human responses to anteroposterior mechanical perturbations at three walking speeds. The system consists of three Hill-Type muscles, simulated in real time, and uses feedback from ground reaction force and from stretch sensors on the virtual muscle fibers. Controller gains, muscle properties, and reflex/vestibular time delays were optimized using Covariance Matrix Adaptation (CMA) to minimize the difference between the VMR torque output and the torque measured from the experiment. We repeated the procedure using a conventional finite-state impedance controller. For both controllers, the coefficient of determination () and root-mean-square error (RMSE) was calculated as a function of time within the gait cycle. The VMR had lower RMSE than the impedance controller in 70%, and in 60% of the trials, the of the VMR controller was higher than for the impedance controller. We concluded that the VMR system can better reproduce the human responses to perturbations than the impedance controller.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Engineering in Medicine is an interdisciplinary journal encompassing all aspects of engineering in medicine. The Journal is a vital tool for maintaining an understanding of the newest techniques and research in medical engineering.