Ma Xunju, Liu Yali, Zhang Xiaohui, Masia Lorenzo, Song Qiuzhi
IEEE J Biomed Health Inform. 2025 Feb;29(2):1074-1086. doi: 10.1109/JBHI.2024.3462826. Epub 2025 Feb 10.
Real-time continuous locomotion mode recognition and seamless timely transition detection is critical for the exoskeleton robot. This study aims to present a comprehensive and innovative framework for locomotion mode recognition and transition prediction, exclusively utilizing inertial measurement unit (IMU) signals from the exoskeleton. In this framework, a CNN-BiLSTM model was developed and trained to be the classifier and a novel majority filter was designed to reduce the transition misjudgment rate. Moreover, a comprehensive evaluation system encompassing eight dimensions for the classifier, incorporating evaluation metrics specifically for transition misjudgment, was proposed. We collected locomotion motion data from six subjects wearing a rigid exoskeleton robot using six IMU sensors on the exoskeleton. The proposed method achieves a high level of recognition accuracy, with an overall average of 99.58 for the five steady locomotion modes (level ground walking (LG), stair ascent/descent (SA/SD), and ramp ascent/descent (RA/RD)) across six subjects following the transition decision. All transitions are recognizable, and the majority can be predicted in advance, with an average prediction time of 353 ms. Furthermore, the implementation of majority filter resulted in an average 87.04 reduction in the transition misjudgment rate among six subjects, thereby decreasing the average transition misjudgment rate to 4.82. Finally, the model was tested on a Jetson Nano to verify its real-time performance. The results presented above were obtained under the condition where either leg could function as the first transition leg and revealed that the developed system was capable of achieving precise locomotion mode recognition and timely transition prediction, with high real-time performance.
实时连续运动模式识别和无缝及时过渡检测对外骨骼机器人至关重要。本研究旨在提出一个全面且创新的运动模式识别和过渡预测框架,专门利用来自外骨骼的惯性测量单元(IMU)信号。在此框架中,开发并训练了一个CNN-BiLSTM模型作为分类器,并设计了一种新颖的多数滤波器以降低过渡误判率。此外,还提出了一个针对分类器的包含八个维度的综合评估系统,其中纳入了专门针对过渡误判的评估指标。我们使用外骨骼上的六个IMU传感器,从六名穿戴刚性外骨骼机器人的受试者那里收集了运动数据。所提出的方法实现了高水平的识别准确率,在六名受试者中,遵循过渡决策后,五种稳定运动模式(平地行走(LG)、上楼梯/下楼梯(SA/SD)以及上斜坡/下斜坡(RA/RD))的总体平均准确率为99.58。所有过渡都是可识别的,并且大多数可以提前预测,平均预测时间为353毫秒。此外,多数滤波器的实施使六名受试者中的过渡误判率平均降低了87.04,从而将平均过渡误判率降至4.82。最后,在Jetson Nano上对该模型进行了测试以验证其实时性能。上述结果是在任意一条腿都可作为第一个过渡腿的条件下获得的,这表明所开发的系统能够实现精确的运动模式识别和及时的过渡预测,具有较高的实时性能。