A new generation of powered prosthetic devices together with lightweight, energy storing elastic elements and efficient mechanisms have been designed and built with the goal to significantly minimize the peak power requirement of the motor and total system energy requirement while providing the amputee enhanced ankle motion and push-off power. A secondary effort was to develop control methodologies that allowed the system to start, stop and adjust speed as the amputee walks on linear surfaces as an incremental step towards a truly portable wearable device that can handle the user's complete environment and conditions. A singly unique and robust robotic transtibial prosthesis was successfully built and a six-month human subject trial was conducted on one male below-the-knee amputee under linear walking conditions. Measurements taken from sensors embedded in the prosthesis, voltage and current readings from the motor and subject performance prove that all of the goals, as outlined in the dissertation proposal and Army sponsored Phase 1 proposal, were met. The peak power requirement of the motor was reduced by a factor of 4 compared to the output requirement. A system energy efficiency of 0.4 was achieved, which is double that of a traditional approach. A highly reliable control methodology was developed and tested. These results were achieved while the amputee enjoyed enhanced ankle motion and push-off power similar to able-bodied persons.
展开▼
