Yumbla Emiliano Quinones, Obeng Ruby Afriyie, Ward Jeffrey, Sugar Thomas, Artemiadis Panagiotis
IEEE Int Conf Rehabil Robot. 2019 Jun;2019:880-885. doi: 10.1109/ICORR.2019.8779403.
Locomotion is paramount in enabling human beings to effectively respond in space and time to meet different needs. There are 2 million Americans living with an amputation and the majority of those amputations are of the lower limbs. Although current powered prostheses can accommodate walking, and in some cases running, basic functions like hiking or walking on various non-rigid or dynamic terrains are requirements that have yet to be met. This paper focuses on the mechanisms involved during human locomotion, while transitioning from rigid to compliant surfaces such as from pavement to sand, grass or granular media. Utilizing a unique tool, the Variable Stiffness Treadmill (VST), as the platform for human locomotion, rigid to compliant surface transitions are simulated. The analysis of muscular activation during the transition from rigid to compliant surfaces reveals specific anticipatory muscle activation that precedes stepping on the compliant surface. These results are novel and important since the evoked activation changes can be used for altering the powered prosthesis control parameters to adapt to the new surface, and therefore result in significantly increased robustness for smart powered lower limb prostheses.
移动能力对于人类在空间和时间上有效做出反应以满足不同需求至关重要。有200万美国截肢者，其中大多数截肢发生在下肢。尽管当前的动力假肢能够适应行走，在某些情况下还能适应跑步，但诸如徒步旅行或在各种非刚性或动态地形上行走等基本功能仍未得到满足。本文重点研究人类在从刚性表面过渡到柔顺表面（如从人行道到沙地、草地或颗粒介质）时的运动机制。利用一种独特的工具——可变刚度跑步机（VST）作为人类运动的平台，模拟从刚性表面到柔顺表面的过渡。对从刚性表面到柔顺表面过渡期间肌肉激活的分析揭示了在踏上柔顺表面之前特定的预期肌肉激活。这些结果是新颖且重要的，因为诱发的激活变化可用于改变动力假肢的控制参数以适应新表面，从而显著提高智能动力下肢假肢的稳健性。
