機能的電気刺激による関節角度と剛性の同時制御

抄録

Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is a type of neuromuscular electrical stimulation in which peripheral nerves are electrically stimulated to cause muscle contraction. Precise joint angle feedback control is necessary to develop FES rehabilitation systems that can help recover the motor function of patients with paralyzed limbs. Most research focus on the controller design for joint angle control. In this research, the role joint stiffness has in joint angle control is explored. First, a coactivation method based on values that correlate with the joint angle and joint stiffness is introduced. Implementing this coactivation method to a joint angle feedback control system enables the simultaneous control of joint angle and joint stiffness. To be specific, feedback control of joint angle and feedforward control of joint stiffness are realized. Experimental results show that joint stiffness is effective to supress disturbance, and also increases the tracking performance of the joint angle control.