Combined Manual and Automatic Control for Wearable Leg Support System

(Propose on Control Method Reproducing Skilled Operation)

Abstract

In this paper, we combined with manual and automatic control on a wearable leg support system for lower limb disabilities. The system has actuators at lower limb joints, and has a special control lever mounted on the unaffected shoulder. This system operates by lever operation of the wearer. Therefore, it is possible to realize an operation reflecting the intention of the operator, but there is a danger of falling due to disturbance or the like. In order to solve the problem, we additionally implement a control method that automatically stabilizes the posture against disturbance in the support system. The control law is identified from the lever operation of experts, and the effectiveness is confirmed by experiments. In addition, we evaluate manual operability when implementing automatic control, through experiment.