Université Paris-Saclay, CIAMS, 91405 Orsay, France.
CIAMS, Université d'Orléans, 45100 Orléans, France.
Sensors (Basel). 2023 Apr 20;23(8):4122. doi: 10.3390/s23084122.
Exoskeletons are among the most promising devices dedicated to assisting human movement during reeducation protocols and preventing musculoskeletal disorders at work. However, their potential is currently limited, partially because of a fundamental contradiction impacting their design. Indeed, increasing the interaction quality often requires the inclusion of passive degrees of freedom in the design of human-exoskeleton interfaces, which increases the exoskeleton's inertia and complexity. Thus, its control also becomes more complex, and unwanted interaction efforts can become important. In the present paper, we investigate the influence of two passive rotations in the forearm interface on sagittal plane reaching movements while keeping the arm interface unchanged (i.e., without passive degrees of freedom). Such a proposal represents a possible compromise between conflicting design constraints. The in-depth investigations carried out here in terms of interaction efforts, kinematics, electromyographic signals, and subjective feedback of participants all underscored the benefits of such a design. Therefore, the proposed compromise appears to be suitable for rehabilitation sessions, specific tasks at work, and future investigations into human movement using exoskeletons.
外骨骼是最有前途的设备之一，专门用于在重新教育方案中帮助人类运动，并预防工作中的肌肉骨骼疾病。然而，它们的潜力目前受到限制，部分原因是影响其设计的一个基本矛盾。事实上，提高交互质量通常需要在人机接口设计中纳入被动自由度，这会增加外骨骼的惯性和复杂性。因此，它的控制也变得更加复杂，并且不想要的交互力可能变得很重要。在本文中，我们研究了在前臂接口中增加两个被动旋转对矢状面达运动的影响，同时保持手臂接口不变（即没有被动自由度）。这种方案代表了在相互冲突的设计约束之间的一种可能的妥协。在交互力、运动学、肌电图信号和参与者的主观反馈方面进行的深入研究都强调了这种设计的好处。因此，所提出的妥协似乎适用于康复课程、工作中的特定任务以及使用外骨骼进行未来的人类运动研究。
