University of Twente Student Theses
Modeling The JLO Exoskeleton and Designing a Controller for Gait Entrainment
Iroagalachi, Grace C. (2025) Modeling The JLO Exoskeleton and Designing a Controller for Gait Entrainment.
|
PDF
10MB |
| Abstract: | Gait entrainment occurs when a human synchronizes the period of their gait cycle to the period of an external, rhythmic input. Gait entrainment can be done with an ankle exoskeleton; the exoskeleton delivers small torque pulses to the human ankle provoking a subconscious adaptation of gait cadence. Researchers from the Neuromuscular Robotics research group at the University of Twente use the JLO, a lower limb exoskeleton, to study gait entrainment. The JLO’s current controller was designed using model-free techniques, and provides sub-standard torque tracking, severely limiting the ability to investigate gait entrainment. Therefore, the goal of this thesis is to create a model of the exoskeleton that facilitates controller design, and to use that model in designing a controller that minimizes the error between the desired torque pulses and the measured pulses. To this end, the JLO is modeled as a nonlinear system. The combination of feedback linearizing control and feedforward control results in a lower root mean square error (RMSE) than the JLO’s current, model-free controller. Simulation experiments showed that when tracking torque pulses, the proposed controller has an RMSE of 0.6361 Nm, while the current controller has an RMSE of 0.7368 Nm. The feedback linearizing controller thus improves the current torque tracking capabilities of the JLO exoskeleton, and better facilitates the study of gait entrainment as a rehabilitative strategy. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | EEMCS: Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science |
| Subject: | 52 mechanical engineering |
| Programme: | Systems and Control MSc (60359) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/106072 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
Show download statistics for this publication
Show download statistics for this publicationRepository Staff Only: item control page