Rosa Pàmies-Vilà

Evolution of the Supervised Work in Machine and Mechanism Theory at ETSEIB

This paper presents the evolution of a supervised work carried out in small groups of students included within the compulsory subject Theory of Machines and Mechanisms at Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering—ETSEIB. The implementation of the supervised work started during the academic year 1999–2000 and it has remained till the academic year 2011–2012 with the idea of being an opportunity for the students to put in practice specific knowledge and general skills. The paper explains the experience and enhancements done by the teaching staff during all these years in order to fulfill with the expected objectives related to the supervised work.

Basic Projects of Knowledge Integration in the Bachelors' Degree in Industrial Technology

The syllabus of bachelors’ degree in Industrial Technology at Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering has Project I and Project II on semesters 4 and 6. In these subjects, students must face correctly to a concrete engineering problem which has to structure and solve with the knowledge and competences acquired in previous subjects. In the frame of Mechanical Engineering, it is recommended that the problem to solve by the students should involve the realization of a task within a technological process that requires the manipulation of a real mechanism. The project includes the identification and concretisation of the task and the technological process, the geometric and kinematic analysis of the mechanism, the design of a manoeuvre, the implementation of the control of the actuators for the execution of the manoeuvre and the design and construction, with rapid prototyping, of an adequate accessory for the task. Till nowadays, the results after three semesters of teaching have been satisfactory from the teachers’ and students’ side.

Validation of the Inverse Dynamic Analysis of Human Gait Using a Forward Dynamics Approach

One of the aims of the dynamic analysis of human gait is to know the joint forces and torques that the musculoskeletal system produces during the motion. For this purpose, an 18 segment 3D model with 57 degrees of freedom is implemented. The analysis of a captured motion can be addressed by means of forward or inverse dynamic analyses. In this work, both analyses are computed using multibody dynamics techniques. The forward dynamic analysis is carried out with the aim of simulating the movement of the multibody system using the results of the inverse problem as input data. Since the inverse analysis is solved using a dynamically consistent methodology, the forward dynamic analysis allows us to simulate up to the 90% of the gait cycle without any controller. After that, a proportional derivative (PD) controller is implemented to stabilize the system, which gets to simulate the complete captured motion. Moreover, the dynamic contribution of the controller is really low and the simulated motion is extremely close to the original one. The methodology presented allows us to validate the correctness of the inverse dynamics analysis and it is an intermediate step towards the prediction problem: it requires dynamical consistency too, but the uncertainties involved in the problem are lower than in a predictive approach.

DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF WALKING WITH A POWERED STANCE-CONTROL KNEE-ANKLE-FOOT ORTHOSIS

The analysis and design of powered exoskeletons and orthoses that assist human gait is an open field of research that covers the areas of biomechanics, robotics and neurorehabilitation. Those devices are thought to help patients with disabilities (caused by spinal cord injuries, acquired brain damage, etc.) and are also useful to rehabilitate lower limb muscle control up to a certain degree. In this work, a powered lower limb orthosis aimed at assisting incomplete spinal cord injured (SCI) subjects is presented. The target patients are classified with levels C or D in the ASIA (American Spinal Injury Association) impairment scale. They are able to control hip flexor muscles, but have partially denervated muscles actuating the knee and ankle joints. The kinematics and metabolical cost of their gait can be improved by means of active stance-control knee-ankle-foot orthoses (SCKAFO) [Yakimovich et al, 2009]. The inverse dynamics of the orthosis-assisted locomotion in a healthy individual is analyzed in order to understand the combined subject-orthosis actuation and human adaptation to such devices.