IPAB workshop - 27/04/2017

Graham Henderson:

Disambiguation of human and exoskeleton joint torques using EMG-informed neuromusculoskeletal modelling

For an exoskeleton control paradigm to be able to help patients achieve rehabilitation goals, it is important that the joint torques generated by the patient's muscles and those generated by the exoskeleton are disambiguated.  This enables the user's contribution to a certain movement to be monitored and the exoskeleton assistance can be adapted accordingly. We assume there are losses in the transmission between the torques measured by the exoskeleton and those applied to the human joints.  We present a method where disambiguation can be undertaken by calculating the net joint torques via inverse dynamics and estimating the human contribution via EMG-informed neuromusculoskeletal modelling.  This work will feed into the development of novel control paradigms that are adaptive and robust to changes in environments, contexts, and tasks.