Design, Characterization, and Preliminary Assessment of a Two-Degree-of-Freedom Powered Ankle–Foot Prosthesis
Name
biomimetics-09-00076.pdf
Size
18.76 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
eda6b365eb46a4f425cb9b5b5a88e04a
Author(s)
Hsieh, Tsung-Han
Song, Hyungeun
Shu, Tony
Qiao, Junqing
Yeon, Seong Ho
Carney, Matthew
Mooney, Luke
Duval, Jean-François
Herr, Hugh
Date Issued
January 26, 2024
Journal
Biomimetics
Publisher
MDPI AG
Citation
Hsieh, T.-H.; Song, H.; Shu, T.; Qiao, J.; Yeon, S.H.; Carney, M.; Mooney, L.; Duval, J.-F.; Herr, H. Design, Characterization, and Preliminary Assessment of a Two-Degree-of-Freedom Powered Ankle–Foot Prosthesis. Biomimetics 2024, 9, 76.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Powered ankle prostheses have been proven to improve the walking economy of people with transtibial amputation. All commercial powered ankle prostheses that are currently available can only perform one-degree-of-freedom motion in a limited range. However, studies have shown that the frontal plane motion during ambulation is associated with balancing. In addition, as more advanced neural interfaces have become available for people with amputation, it is possible to fully recover ankle function by combining neural signals and a robotic ankle. Accordingly, there is a need for a powered ankle prosthesis that can have active control on not only plantarflexion and dorsiflexion but also eversion and inversion. We designed, built, and evaluated a two-degree-of-freedom (2-DoF) powered ankle–foot prosthesis that is untethered and can support level-ground walking. Benchtop tests were conducted to characterize the dynamics of the system. Walking trials were performed with a 77 kg subject that has unilateral transtibial amputation to evaluate system performance under realistic conditions. Benchtop tests demonstrated a step response rise time of less than 50 milliseconds for a torque of 40 N·m on each actuator. The closed-loop torque bandwidth of the actuator is 9.74 Hz. Walking trials demonstrated torque tracking errors (root mean square) of less than 7 N·m. These results suggested that the device can perform adequate torque control and support level-ground walking. This prosthesis can serve as a platform for studying biomechanics related to balance and has the possibility of further recovering the biological function of the ankle–subtalar–foot complex beyond the existing powered ankles.
Subjects
Molecular Medicine
Biomedical Engineering
Biochemistry
Biomaterials
Bioengineering
Biotechnology
MIT Department
Program in Media Arts and Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics9020076
