Institute of Mechanical Intelligence and Department of Excellence in Robotics & AI, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, 56127 Pisa, Italy.
Institute of Digitalization in Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center-University of Freiburg, 79106 Freiburg, Germany.
Sensors (Basel). 2024 Aug 19;24(16):5358. doi: 10.3390/s24165358.
Using lower limb exoskeletons provides potential advantages in terms of productivity and safety associated with reduced stress. However, complex issues in human-robot interactions are still open, such as the physiological effects of exoskeletons and the impact on the user's subjective experience. In this work, an innovative exoskeleton, the , is assessed using the EXPERIENCE benchmarking protocol from the EUROBENCH project. The is a lower-limb exoskeleton that enhances human abilities, such as carrying loads. The device uses a unique control approach called that provides smooth assistance torques. It operates two models simultaneously, one in the case in which the left foot is grounded and another for the grounded right foot. These models generate assistive torques combined to provide continuous and smooth overall assistance, preventing any abrupt changes in torque due to model switching. The EXPERIENCE protocol consists of walking on flat ground while gathering physiological signals, such as heart rate, its variability, respiration rate, and galvanic skin response, and completing a questionnaire. The test was performed with five healthy subjects. The scope of the present study is twofold: to evaluate the specific exoskeleton and its current control system to gain insight into possible improvements and to present a case study for a formal and replicable benchmarking of wearable robots.
使用下肢外骨骼可以在降低压力方面带来生产力和安全性方面的潜在优势。然而，人机交互中的复杂问题仍然存在，例如外骨骼的生理影响以及对用户主观体验的影响。在这项工作中，使用 EUROBENCH 项目的 EXPERIENCE 基准测试协议评估了一种创新的外骨骼，即 。 是一种增强人类能力的下肢外骨骼，例如携带负载。该设备采用一种称为 的独特控制方法，提供平滑的辅助扭矩。它同时运行两个模型，一个是左脚着地的情况，另一个是右脚着地的情况。这些模型生成的辅助扭矩相结合，提供连续和平滑的整体辅助，防止由于模型切换而导致扭矩的任何突然变化。EXPERIENCE 协议包括在平地上行走，同时收集生理信号，如心率、心率变异性、呼吸率和皮肤电反应，并完成问卷调查。该测试是在五名健康受试者中进行的。本研究的范围有两个方面：评估特定的外骨骼及其当前的控制系统，以深入了解可能的改进，并为可穿戴机器人的正式和可复制基准测试提供一个案例研究。
