Title: Developing an intelligent robotic hip exoskeleton for stability augmentation during perturbed locomotion 

Date: Tuesday, November 29th, 2022

Time: Noon EST

Location: MRDC 4211 Conference Room, Zoom Meeting (Meeting ID: 922 3886 2970, Passcode: 225610)

Jennifer Leestma

Robotics PhD Student

School of Mechanical Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology

Committee:

Dr. Aaron Young (Advisor) – School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Gregory Sawicki (Advisor) – School of Mechanical Engineering & School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Lena Ting – Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology & Emory University

Dr. Christian Hubicki – Department of Mechanical Engineering, Florida State University

Dr. James Finley – Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, University of Southern California

Abstract:

Recent advances in wearable robotics have unveiled the potential of exoskeletons to augment human locomotion across a variety of environments.  However, few studies have evaluated the capability of these devices to augment human biomechanical stability during unstable locomotion, which could inform assistive devices for individuals with balance impairments, therapy strategies, and bipedal robotics.  In this proposal, I aim to investigate human responses while walking in destabilizing environments and the ability of exoskeleton assistance to compensate for human suboptimality in recovering and maintaining balance.  I propose extend these findings to design and test an intelligent exoskeleton control framework that augments human locomotor stability in novel environments.  To achieve this, I will (Aim 1) investigate human biomechanics following a diversity of destabilizing perturbations, (Aim 2) test the ability of exoskeleton controllers to augment stability by compensating for human latency, and (Aim 3) develop an intelligent control framework that predicts biological joint moment responses and applies them via assistive exoskeleton torques prior to the human’s response.  This work will introduce a novel intelligent bio-inspired approach for augmenting biomechanical stability during locomotion using wearable robots.