An Interface between an Exoskeletal Elbow Motion Assistance Robot and the Human Upper Arm

Abstract

We have been developing exoskeletal motion assistance robots for human motion support to help physically weak persons. Since elbow motion is one of the simplest and most important motion in daily activities, we have developed a exoskeletal robot for human elbow motion assistance. In this system, the angular position and impedance of the exoskeletal robot are controlled by multiple fuzzy-neuro controllers. Skin surface electromyography (EMG) signals and wrist force by the human subject during elbow joint motion have been used as input information for the controller. Since the activation of working muscles tends to vary with the human subject's upper arm posture, we propose an interface that cancels out the effect of posture changes of the human subject's upper arm. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed interface.