Luke M. Mooney

Clutchable series-elastic actuator: Implications for prosthetic knee design

Currently, the mobility of above-knee amputees is limited by the lack of available prostheses that can efficiently replicate biologically accurate movements. In this study, a powered knee prosthesis was designed utilizing a novel mechanism, known as a clutchable series-elastic actuator (CSEA).The CSEA includes a low-power clutch in parallel with an electric motor within a traditional series-elastic actuator. The stiffness of the series elasticity was tuned to match the elastically conservative region of the knee’s torque-angle relationship during the stance phase of locomotion. During this region, the clutch was used to efficiently store energy in the series elasticity. The fully autonomous knee prosthesis design utilized a brushless electric motor, ballscrew transmission and cable drive, as well as commercial electrical components. The knee was lighter than the eighth percentile and shorter than the first percentile male shank segment. The CSEA Knee was tested in a unilateral above-knee amputee walking at 1.3 m/s. During walking, the CSEA Knee provided biomechanically accurate torque-angle behavior, agreeing within 17% of the net work and 27% of the stance flexion angle produced by the biological knee. In addition, the process of locomotion reduced the net electrical energy consumption of the CSEA Knee. The knee’s motor generated 1.8 J/stride, and the net energy consumption was 3.6 J/stride, an order of magnitude less energy than previously published powered knee prostheses.

Clutchable series-elastic actuator: Design of a robotic knee prosthesis for minimum energy consumption

The cyclic and often linear torque-angle relationship of locomotion presents the opportunity to innovate on the design of traditional series-elastic actuators (SEAs). In this paper, a novel modification to the SEA architecture was proposed by adding a clutch in parallel with the motor within the SEA - denoted as a CSEA. This addition permits bimodal dynamics where the system is characterized by an SEA when the clutch is disengaged and a passive spring when the clutch is engaged. The purpose of the parallel clutch was to provide the ability to store energy in a tuned series spring, while requiring only reactionary torque from the clutch. Thus, when the clutch is engaged, a tuned elastic relationship can be achieved with minimal electrical energy consumption. The state-based model of the CSEA is introduced and the implementation of the CSEA mechanism in a powered knee prosthesis is detailed. The series elasticity was optimized to fit the spring-like torque-angle relationship of early stance phase knee flexion and extension during level ground walking. In simulation, the CSEA knee required 70% less electrical energy than a traditional SEA. Future work will focus on the mechanical implementation of the CSEA knee and an empirical demonstration of reduced electrical energy consumption during walking.

Continuously-variable series-elastic actuator

Actuator efficiency is an important factor in the design of powered leg prostheses, orthoses, exoskeletons, and legged robots. A continuously-variable series-elastic actuator (CV-SEA) is presented as an efficient actuator for legged locomotion. The CV-SEA implements a continuously-variable transmission (CVT) between a motor and series elastic element. The CVT reduces the torque seen at the motor and allows the motor to operate in speed regimes of higher efficiency, while the series-elastic element efficiently stores and releases mechanical energy, reducing motor work requirements for actuator applications where an elastic response is sought. An energy efficient control strategy for the CV-SEA was developed using a Monte-Carlo minimization method that randomly generates transmission profiles and converges on those that minimize the electrical energy consumption of the motor. The CV-SEA is compared to a standard SEA and an infinitely variable series elastic actuator (IV-SEA). Simulations suggest that a CV-SEA will require less energy that an SEA or IV-SEA when used in a knee prosthesis during level-ground walking.

Autonomous exoskeleton reduces metabolic cost of walking

We developed an autonomous powered leg exoskeleton capable of providing large amounts of positive mechanical power to the wearer during powered plantarflexion phase of walking. The autonomous exoskeleton consisted of a winch actuator fasted to the shin which pulled on fiberglass struts attached to a boot. The fiberglass struts formed a rigid extension of the foot when the proximal end of the strut was pulled in forward by the winch actuator. This lightweight, geometric transmission allowed the electric winch actuator to efficiently produce biological levels of power at the ankle joint. The exoskeleton was powered and controlled by lithium polymer batteries and motor controller worn around the waist. Preliminary testing on two subjects walking at 1.4 m/s resulted in the exoskeleton reducing the metabolic cost of walking by 6-11% as compared to not wearing the device. The exoskeleton provided a peak mechanical power of over 180 W at each ankle (mean standard ± deviation) and an average positive mechanical power of 27 ± 1 W total to both ankles, while electrically using 75-89 W of electricity. The batteries (800 g) used in this experiment are estimated to be capable of providing this level of assistance for up to 7 km of walking.

Design and characterization of a biologically inspired quasi-passive prosthetic ankle-foot

By design, commonly worn energy storage and release (ESR) prosthetic feet cannot provide biologically realistic ankle joint torque and angle profiles during walking. Additionally, their anthropomorphic, cantilever architecture causes their mechanical stiffness to decrease throughout the stance phase of walking, opposing the known trend of the biological ankle. In this study, the design of a quasi-passive pneumatic ankle-foot prosthesis is detailed that is able to replicate the biological ankles torque and angle profiles during walking. The prosthetic ankle is comprised of a pneumatic piston, bending spring and solenoid valve. The mechanical properties of the pneumatic ankle prosthesis are characterized using a materials testing machine and the properties are compared to those from a common, passive ESR prosthetic foot. The characterization spanned a range of ankle equilibrium pressures and testing locations beneath the foot, analogous to the location of center of pressure within the stance phase of walking. The pneumatic ankle prosthesis was shown to provide biologically appropriate trends and magnitudes of torque, angle and stiffness behavior, when compared to the passive ESR prosthetic foot. Future work will focus on the development of a control system for the quasi-passive device and clinical testing of the pneumatic ankle to demonstrate efficacy.

Design and Characterization of a Quasi-Passive Pneumatic Foot-Ankle Prosthesis

The majority of commercially available passive prosthetic feet are not capable of providing joint mechanics that match that of the intact human ankle. Due to their cantilever design, their stiffness characteristics contrast with what has been observed in the biological ankle, namely, an increase in stiffness during the stance phase of walking. In this paper, we introduce the design and control of a pneumatic foot-ankle prosthesis that attempts to provide biomimetic mechanics. The prosthesis is comprised of a pneumatic cylinder in series with a fiberglass leaf spring, and a solenoid valve to control the flow of air between the two sides of the cylinder. The solenoid valve acts as a mechanical clutch, enabling resetting of the ankle’s equilibrium position. By adjusting the pressure inside the cylinder, the prosthesis can be customized to provide a range of ankle mechanics. A mechanical testing machine is used to compare the torque-angle curve of the pneumatic prosthesis with a low-profile passive prosthetic foot. Finally, data are presented of one transtibial amputee walking with the prosthesis at 1.2 m/s. The testing shows that the pneumatic prosthesis is capable of providing an appropriate range of motion as well a maximum torque of 94 Nm, while returning approximately 11.5 J of energy.

The design of a lightweight, low cost robotic knee prosthesis with selectable series elasticity

The loss of a lower extremity severely affects quality of life for hundreds of thousands of leg amputees in the United States, and millions worldwide. The vast majority of these individuals use mechanically passive prostheses that do not provide energy during gait. As a result, leg amputees fatigue quickly, walk more slowly, and have difficulty interacting with their community. To address these deficits, researchers have developed robotic prostheses that use electric motors to provide energy. While these technologies have much promise, their substantial mass, inefficiency and cost are obstacles that remain a challenge to broad clinical applications.

Proprioception from a neurally controlled lower-extremity prosthesis

An agonist-antagonist myoneural interface in a subject with a transtibial amputation improves prosthetic control. A leg up for neuroprosthetics Amputation severs bone, nerves, and muscles used for limb movement, limiting an amputee’s ability to sense and control a prosthesis. Here, Clites et al. tested autologous muscle-nerve interfaces created at the time of below-knee amputation in a human subject. Compared to four subjects with traditional amputations, the subject who received two agonist-antagonist myoneural interfaces in his residuum (which were connected via synthetic electrodes to his powered prosthesis) exhibited greater joint placement control and reflexive behavior during stair walking. The subject noted little delay between intentional activation of the muscles in his residuum and movement of his prosthesis and expressed a strong sense of embodiment (identifying the prosthesis as part of him). Agonist-antagonist myoneural interfaces could help restore natural sensation to prosthetic joints. Humans can precisely sense the position, speed, and torque of their body parts. This sense is known as proprioception and is essential to human motor control. Although there have been many attempts to create human-mechatronic interactions, there is still no robust, repeatable methodology to reflect proprioceptive information from a synthetic device onto the nervous system. To address this shortcoming, we present an agonist-antagonist myoneural interface (AMI). The AMI is composed of (i) a surgical construct made up of two muscle-tendons—an agonist and an antagonist—surgically connected in series so that contraction of one muscle stretches the other and (ii) a bidirectional efferent-afferent neural control architecture. The AMI preserves the dynamic muscle relationships that exist within native anatomy, thereby allowing proprioceptive signals from mechanoreceptors within both muscles to be communicated to the central nervous system. We surgically constructed two AMIs within the residual limb of a subject with a transtibial amputation. Each AMI sends control signals to one joint of a two-degree-of-freedom ankle-foot prosthesis and provides proprioceptive information pertaining to the movement of that joint. The AMI subject displayed improved control over the prosthesis compared to a group of four subjects having traditional amputation. We also show natural reflexive behaviors during stair ambulation in the AMI subject that do not appear in the cohort of subjects with traditional amputation. In addition, we demonstrate a system for closed-loop joint torque control in AMI subjects. These results provide a framework for integrating bionic systems with human physiology.

Measuring muscle stiffness by linear mechanical perturbation

Transverse muscle stiffness provides valuable information regarding the health and activation level of muscle. Current muscle stiffness sensors are either tethered to a benchtop module or designed as hand-held instruments capable of static measurements. We propose a novel wearable sensor, the sarcometer, to continuously measure dynamic transverse muscle stiffness. The sarcometer utilizes a small linear Lorentz force actuator with position sensing to perturb the muscle body. Initial experimentation was performed on the lateral gastrocnemius of one subject during different periods of muscle activation. Experimental force and displacement measurements were used to estimate the dynamic model of the muscle during each condition. The model stiffness was shown to significantly (p <; 0.001) increase from 347 N/m during normal standing to 1606 N/m during standing on the toes of one foot. We hope to further miniaturize the sarcometer into a self-contained system for continuous monitoring of tissue stiffness.