Intelligent interface and control of an exoskeletal robot for human shoulder motion support considering subject's arm posture

Abstract

We have been developing exoskeletal robots in order to support the motion of physically weak persons such as elderly persons or handicapped persons. In our previous research, the 2-DOF exoskeletal robots for shoulder motion support and its control method have been developed since the shoulder motion is especially important for people to take care of themselves in everyday life. In this paper, we propose intelligent interface, which realizes the fuzzy-neuro controller adjustment in accordance with the human subject's arm posture, in order to effectively control the 2-DOF exoskeletal robot for shoulder motion support. The intelligent interface is realized by applying a neural network. The effectiveness of the proposed intelligent interface of the exoskeletal robot has been evaluated by experiment.