Walking controller for powered ankle prostheses

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10016290-B2
Application number	US-201314428058-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 17, 2013
Priority date	Sep 17, 2012
Publication date	Jul 10, 2018
Grant date	Jul 10, 2018

Abstract

Described herein are systems and methods for a powered ankle/foot prosthesis and controller that utilizes piecewise emulated passive impedances to provide for walking at various cadences and on various slopes and for ground slope adaptive standing. A powered prosthesis using these systems and methods is capable of emulating any physical behavior provided by the healthy joint, and additionally describes a control system that utilizes the sensing and actuation system on the prosthesis to provide appropriate ankle joint impedances. Further, the control system incorporates a finite-state-based structure, and within each state, emulates the behavior of the healthy joint with strictly passive impedance functions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for controlling a powered ankle prosthesis having a shank, a foot, an ankle joint rotatably coupling the shank and the foot, and a motor for directly actuating the ankle joint, comprising
operating the motor to cause the ankle joint to be actuated so to have an impedance behavior corresponding to a pre-defined behavior associated with a present state of a series of states of an activity controller for the powered ankle prosthesis, the impedance behavior controlled exclusively via a torque generated by a drive shaft of the motor during operation of the motor;
receiving sensor measurements associated with the powered ankle prosthesis;
based at least on the present state and the sensor measurements, determining to switch from the present state to a different state of the series of states;
wherein within each state, the pre-defined behavior emulates a passive impedance function.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the passive impedance function is an odd algebraic function that relates the torque at the ankle joint to at least one of an angle or an angular velocity at the ankle joint.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the activity controller is a walking controller, and wherein the series of states comprising the walking controller comprises at least a stance phase and a swing phase.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the series of states comprises at least a middle stance state, a push-off state, an early swing state, and a late swing/early stance state, wherein the activity controller in all states is configured to cause the motor to generate the torque so that the emulated behavior is that of a different spring for each state.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the determination to switch from swing to stance is based on at least a substantial dorsiflexion of the ankle.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the equilibrium point of each state changes as a function of ground slope.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the ground slope is estimated by averaging an angle of the foot with respect to an inertial reference frame of the powered ankle prosthesis during a period of time when an angular velocity of the foot with respect to the inertial reference frame is below a predetermined threshold.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the angle and angular velocity of the foot are calculated using an inertial measurement unit on the shank, in combination with measurement of the angle and angular velocity of the ankle joint.

9. The method of claim 4 , wherein the torque is generated in the middle stance state so that the emulated impedance behavior is that of a stiffening spring with a neutral equilibrium point, wherein the torque is generated in the push-off state so that the emulated impedance behavior is that of a high stiffness spring with an equilibrium point at a plantarflexed position, wherein the torque is generated in the early swing state so that the emulated impedance behavior is that of a spring with the neutral equilibrium point, and wherein the torque is generated in the late swing/early stance state so that the emulated impedance behavior is that of a low stiffness spring with a high damping and the neutral equilibrium point.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the activity controller is a standing controller, and wherein the series of states comprising the standing controller comprises at least a support state and a conformal state.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the impedance behavior within the support state is primarily the stiffness behavior, and the impedance behavior within the conformal state is primarily the damping behavior.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the activity controller switches from the conformal state to the support state when the angular velocity of the foot relative to an inertial reference frame of the powered ankle prosthesis is essentially zero.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the controller switches from the support state to the conformal state when the angular velocity of the foot relative to an inertial reference frame of the powered ankle prosthesis is substantially nonzero.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the passive impedance function describes a behavior of a passive spring and damper system having a spring stiffness, an equilibrium point, and a viscous damping coefficient, wherein within each state the spring stiffness, the equilibrium point, and the viscous damping coefficient are pre-defined.

15. A powered ankle prosthesis, comprising:
a shank;
a foot;
an ankle joint rotatably coupling the shank and the foot
one or more sensors configured for generating sensor measurements for the power ankle prosthesis;
an electric motor for actuating the ankle joint;
and
a controller configured for:
operating the motor to cause the ankle joint to be actuated so to have an impedance behavior corresponding to a pre-defined behavior associated with a present state of a series of states of an activity controller for the powered ankle prosthesis, the impedance behavior controlled exclusively via a torque generated by a drive shaft of the motor during operation of the motor;
receiving the sensor measurements;

based at least on the present state and the sensor measurements, determining to switch from the present state to a different state of the series of states
wherein within each state the pre-defined behavior emulates a passive impedance function.

16. The powered ankle prosthesis of claim 15 , additionally comprising a unidirectional spring configured to store and release energy during dorsiflexion of the foot.

17. The powered ankle prosthesis of claim 16 , wherein the spring is permanently affixed to the foot and mechanically engages and disengages at certain angles.

18. The powered ankle prosthesis of claim 15 , further comprising a drive train for transferring the torque between the motor and the ankle joint, wherein the drive train comprises a transmission with multiple stages consisting of at least one of belts or chains.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program for controlling a powered ankle prosthesis having a shank, a foot, an ankle joint rotatably coupling the shank and the foot, and a motor for directly actuating the ankle joint, the computer program comprising a plurality of code sections for carrying out the method comprising:
operating the motor to cause the ankle joint to be actuated so to have an impedance behavior corresponding to a pre-defined behavior associated with a present state of a series of states of an activity controller for the powered ankle prosthesis, the impedance behavior controlled exclusively via a torque generated by a drive shaft of the motor during operation of the motor;
receiving sensor measurements associated with the powered ankle prosthesis;
based at least on the present state and the sensor measurements, determining to switch from the present state to a different state of the series of states;
wherein within each state the pre-defined behavior emulates a passive impedance function.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the passive impedance function is an odd algebraic function that relates the torque at the ankle joint to at least one of an angle or an angular velocity at the ankle joint.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the activity controller is a walking controller, and wherein the series of states comprising the walking controller comprises at least a

Assignees

• Univ Vanderbilt

Inventors

• Goldfarb Michael
• Shultz Amanda Huff
• Lawson Brian E
• Mitchell Jason E
• Truex Don

Classifications

• A61F2002/704

  computer-controlled, e.g. robotic control · CPC title

• A61F2002/764

  for measuring acceleration · CPC title

• A61F2002/7635

  for measuring force, pressure or mechanical tension · CPC title

• A61F2002/7625

  for measuring angular position · CPC title

• A61F2002/701

  operated by electrically controlled means, e.g. solenoids or torque motors · CPC title