Control of time-critical robotic rehabilitation

Abstract

Robotic rehabilitation of time-critical tasks, such as treadmill training, needs a special kind of control that not only moves the limb in question but also allows the patient the liberty to perform his/her own efforts, especially as therapy progresses, while closely monitoring the stability and safety of the patient. The authors present a Shared Force Control strategy that includes an impedance controller to deal with uncertainties and an adaptive gait pattern band defined by a nominal gait pattern bound by allowed motion tolerances.