Agility enhancement using an assistive controller for exoskeleton robots

Assistive exoskeletons are a category of wearable robots that provide a portion of the forces, required by users in performing different motions. Hence, the users will be able to perform the motions with less effort. Hitherto, different control algorithms for assistive exoskeletons are proposed and their various effects on the users’ performance are evaluated. Recently, the authors of the present paper have proposed a new control method, called output feedback assistive controller, for compliantly actuated exoskeletons. This method is independent from user’s intent, requires a very low number of sensors and possesses a simple model-free structure. This paper evaluates the effect of the output feedback assistive controller on the agility of the users. A knee physiotherapy robot is considered as a single joint exoskeleton. Connecting a series elastic actuator to the robot and implementing the output feedback assistive controller, the agility of the user is evaluated in a target following experiment. Two markers are displayed on a monitor to represent the actual and desired knee angles for the user. The user is asked to follow the desired angles by moving his/her leg. The accuracy of the user in following the target is measured and compared in two assisted and unassisted cases. The results clearly verify the positive effect of the output feedback assistive controller on increasing the user’s agility.