Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA; Robotics Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
Appl Ergon. 2022 Jan;98:103593. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2021.103593. Epub 2021 Sep 30.
Exoskeletons have the potential to assist users and augment physical ability. To achieve these goals across users, individual variation in muscle activation patterns when using an exoskeleton need to be evaluated. This study examined individual muscle activation patterns during walking with a powered ankle exoskeleton. 60% of the participants were observed to reduce medial gastrocnemius activation with exoskeleton powered and increase with the exoskeleton unpowered during stance. 80% of the participants showed a significant increase in tibialis anterior activation upon power addition, with inconsistent changes upon power removal during swing. 60% of the participants that were able to adapt to the system, did not de-adapt after 5 min. Muscle activity patterns differ between individuals in response to the exoskeleton power state, and affected the antagonist muscle behavior during this early adaptation. It is important to understand these different individual behaviors to inform the design of exoskeleton controllers and training protocols.
外骨骼有辅助用户和增强体力的潜力。为了实现这一目标，需要评估用户在使用外骨骼时肌肉激活模式的个体差异。本研究考察了使用动力踝外骨骼行走时的个体肌肉激活模式。观察到 60%的参与者在站立时，外骨骼助力时内侧腓肠肌激活减少，外骨骼非助力时激活增加。80%的参与者在助力时胫骨前肌的激活显著增加，而在摆动时去除助力时激活变化不一致。60%能够适应系统的参与者，在 5 分钟后没有再次不适应。个体对外骨骼动力状态的反应不同，肌肉活动模式也不同，这会影响早期适应过程中的拮抗肌行为。了解这些不同的个体行为对于外骨骼控制器和训练方案的设计非常重要。
