Basic research on power assist walking leg using force/velocity control strategies

In this paper, we intend to introduce a concept of power assist walking support system and a fundamental strategy of walking support using human-robot interaction force information. The work presented is developing a mechanism, which is in physical contact with the human body, with goal of decreasing human inner force / increasing human strength during a certain activities or for special groups, such as succor, care-worker, elderly people, soldier and fireman. There are several problems in this project. First, the structure problem is studied using Ergonomics. Second, robot must understand the user motion intention and planning of the legs. Then, a very important aspect of the problem, how to control the power assist walking system, is also investigated. And the system must be simple for user, i.e. the user should be able to manipulate the walking support system easily. Therefore, we tentatively propose a strategy using the human-robot interaction forces between the assistant walking legs and the human legs. The system is also expected to have powerful impacts on many applications during activities of daily life. Correlative experimental results are presented to show the effectiveness of the control strategies.