Mechanical Engineering - Research Publications
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ItemNo Preview AvailableExploring the Utility of Crutch Force Sensors to Predict User Intent in Assistive Lower Limb Exoskeletons(IEEE, 2022)The adoption of assistive lower limb exoskeletons in built environments is reliant on the further development of these devices to handle the varied conditions experienced in everyday life. The required development includes more varied and flexible gait patterns, but also appropriate user interfaces to enable fluid gait. This work explores the properties of an algorithm used to predict user intent based on sensors onboard a user-balanced robotic exoskeleton system. Specifically, classification algorithms built with different input data sets are compared - with varying detail of the interaction forces between the crutches and the ground, and the duration of the data sample used to make the prediction. Data were collected with one able-bodied participant using an exoskeleton, training three independent classifiers corresponding to different exoskeleton states. The results indicate the value of including information about the interaction forces between the crutches and the ground in improving prediction accuracy, with increasing prediction window also generally resulting in an increase in prediction accuracy. Whilst no categorical recommendation can be made with respect to either parameter, these results provide a baseline which can be used in conjunction deliberate consideration of the costs associated with implementation.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableInvestigating User Volitional Influence on Step Length in Powered Exoskeleton Designed for Users with SCI(IEEE, 2022)Volitional movement from users of assistive lower limb exoskeletons may be exploited to increase the controlled variability in the movements of a human-exoskeleton system. This may in turn allow these devices to handle the variability encountered in the terrain of everyday life. This study aimed to investigate the degree to which users can volitionally influence step length, when using an assistive exoskeleton designed for users with spinal cord injury (SCI) running a fixed robotic exoskeleton trajectory. An experiment was conducted to investigate the accessible range of step lengths when five able-bodied participants and one participant with SCI piloted a user-balanced exoskeleton. Participants were asked to take steps as large as possible ("large") and as small as possible ("small"), with the able-bodied individuals asked to minimise use of their leg muscles, with step length of each step measured. Surface electromyography (sEMG) data were collected on major leg muscles of the able-bodied subjects to monitor their muscle activities with a novel processing method introduced to facilitate discussion in the context of users with SCI. The results demonstrate that a user can intentionally manipulate the resulting step length, with every participant having significantly different large and small step sizes (p < 0.05). However, large variations were observed between individuals in terms of absolute step lengths and difference between large and small steps. Moreover, the range of step length (normalised by the leg length) ranged from 0.237 to 0.375 for the able-bodied subjects and 0.245 for the individual with SCI. Although positive correlation was present between the sEMG data and resulting step lengths, the result was not statistically significant (p > 0.05).
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ItemEffect Of Arm Deweighting Using End-Effector Based Robotic Devices On Muscle Activity.(IEEE, 2018)Deweighting of the limb is commonly performed for patients with a neurological injury, such as stroke, as it allows these patients with limited muscle activity to perform movements. Deweighting has been implemented in exoskeletons and other multi-contact devices, but not on an end-effector based device with single contact point between the assisting robot and the human limb being assisted. This study inves-tigates the effects of deweighting using an end-effector based device on healthy subjects. The muscle activity of five subjects was measured in both static postures and dynamic movements. The results indicate a decrease in the activity of muscles which typically act against gravity - such as the anterior deltoid and the biceps brachii - but also suggest an increase in activity in muscles which act with gravity - such as the posterior deltoid and the lateral triceps. This can be explained by both the change in required muscle-generated torques and a conscious change in approach by the participants. These observations have implications for neurorehabilitation, particularly with respect to the muscle activation patterns which are trained through rehabilitation exercises.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableA Practical Post-Stroke Elbow Spasticity Assessment Using an Upper Limb Rehabilitation Robot: A Validation Study(IEEE, 2022-07)Spasticity is a motor disorder characterised by a velocity-dependent increase in muscle tone, which is critical in neurorehabilitation given its high prevalence and potential negative influence among the post-stroke population. Accurate measurement of spasticity is important as it guides the strategy of spasticity treatment and evaluates the effectiveness of spasticity management. However, spasticity is commonly measured using clinical scales which may lack objectivity and reliability. Although many technology-assisted measures have been developed, showing their potential as accurate and reliable alternatives to standard clinical scales, they have not been widely adopted in clinical practice due to their low usability and feasibility. This paper thus introduces an easy-to-use robotic based measure of elbow spasticity and its evaluation protocol. Preliminary results collected with one post-stroke patient and one healthy control subject are presented and demonstrate the feasibility of the approach.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableOn Singular Perturbation for a Class of Discrete-Time Nonlinear Systems in the Presence of Limit Cycles of Fast Dynamics(IEEE, 2022)This paper extends the existing singular perturbation results to a class of nonlinear discrete-time systems whose fast dynamics have limit cycles. By introducing the discrete-time reduced averaged system, the main result (Theorem 1) shows that for a given fixed time interval, the solutions of the original system can be made arbitrarily close to the solutions of the reduced averaged system and the boundary layer system. From this result, the stability properties of the original system are obtained from the stability properties of the reduced averaged system and the boundary layer system. Simulation results support the theoretical findings.
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ItemVarying Joint Patterns and Compensatory Strategies Can Lead to the Same Functional Gait Outcomes: A Case Study(IEEE, 2022)This paper analyses joint-space walking mechanisms and redundancies in delivering functional gait outcomes. Multiple biomechanical measures are analysed for two healthy male adults who participated in a multi-factorial study and walked during three sessions. Both participants employed varying intra- and inter-personal compensatory strategies (e.g., vaulting, hip hiking) across walking conditions and exhibited notable gait pattern alterations while keeping task-space (functional) gait parameters invariant. They also preferred various levels of asymmetric step length but kept their symmetric step time consistent and cadence-invariant during free walking. The results demonstrate the importance of an individualised approach and the need for a paradigm shift from functional (task-space) to joint-space gait analysis in attending to (a)typical gaits and delivering human-centred human-robot interaction.
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ItemAveraging for nonlinear systems on Riemannian manifolds(IEEE, 2013)This paper provides a derivation of the averaging methods for nonlinear time-varying dynamical systems defined on Riemannian manifolds. We extend the results on ℝ n to Riemannian manifolds by employing the language of differential geometry.
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ItemNew Stability Criteria for Switched Time-Varying Systems: Output-Persistently Exciting Conditions(IEEE, 2011-01-01)This paper proposes three tools to facilitate the verification of the output-persistently exciting (OPE) condition and simultaneously, provides new asymptotic stability criteria for uniformly globally stable switched systems. By introducing some related reference systems, the OPE condition of the original system can be reduced or simplified. Both the ideas of classic LaSalle invariance principle and nested Matrosov theorem are used to generate such reference systems. The effectiveness and flexibility of the proposed methods are demonstrated by two applications. From these applications, it can be seen that the flexibility of the proposed method produces a novel set of tools for checking uniform asymptotic stability of switched time-varying systems.
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ItemExtremum seeking control for nonlinear systems on compact Riemannian manifolds(IEEE Press, 2014)This paper formulates the extremum seeking control problem for nonlinear dynamical systems which evolve on Riemannian manifolds and presents stability results for a class of numerical algorithms defined in this context. The results are obtained based upon an extension of extremum seeking algorithms in Euclidean spaces and a generalization of Lyapunov stability theory for dynamical systems defined on Rimannian manifolds. We employ local properties of Lyapunov functions to extend the singular perturbation analysis on Riemannian manifolds. Consequently, the results of the singular perturbation on manifolds are used to obtain the convergence of extremum seeking algorithms for dynamical systems on Riemannian manifolds.