Abstract
In this paper, a new technique, which is called as Hybrid FES system (HFES), is proposed. The hardware of HFES system consists of a conventional FES system and an active orthosis. A pair of actuator and sensor is attached at each joint in the orthosis, which can generate a required torque and obtain values of angle and angular velocity at the joint. Based on the dynamics of the orthosis, the posture of the upper body can be estimated using the measurements from the sensors. Moreover, the stabilizing torques for the actuators can be dynamically calculated from the astimated posture. Some preliminary results are obtained in a simulation study and discussion on the performance and realizability of proposed HFES systems has been give in this paper. It is shown that proposed HFES system can be provide a realistic way to complete restoration of paraplegic locomotion.
