The biped robot with heterogeneous legs (BRHL) greatly facilitates the development of intelligent lower-limb prosthesis (ILLP). In the BRHL, the remaining leg of the amputee is simulated by an artificial leg, which provides the bionic leg with the precise gait following trajectory. Therefore, the artificial leg must closely mimic the features of the human leg. After analyzing the motion mechanism of the human knee, this paper designs a four-link bionic knee in light of the coexistence of rolling and sliding between the femur, the meniscus and the tibia. Drawing on the driving mechanism of leg muscles, two pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs) were adopted to serve as the extensor and flexor muscles on the thigh. The two PAMs move in opposite direction, driving the knee motions in the artificial leg. To overcome the complexity of traditional PAM modelling methods, the author set up a PAM feature test platform to disclose the features of the PAMs, and built static and dynamic nonlinear mathematical models of the PAMs based on the test data. Next, a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) closed loop controller and sliding mode controller was designed for the bionic knee, referring to the kinetics equation of the knee. Through experimental simulation, it is confirmed that the proposed controller can accurately control the position of the four-link bionic knee, and that the designed bionic knee and PAM driving mode are both correct.
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