Virtual Prosthetic Limb System With Contact Force Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current virtual prosthetic limb systems lack the ability to simulate realistic interactions and feedback, making them inefficient for designing and training users, particularly for upper extremity amputees, as they do not effectively connect with the patient's residual limb and provide adequate training in control algorithms and sensor/signal selection.
Innovation Solution
A system that includes an electronic control unit capable of generating virtual prosthetic limbs and objects, receiving control signals from the user, determining contact forces, and adjusting positions in response, while providing feedback, using advanced visualization and sensor technologies to simulate realistic interactions and training scenarios.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a virtual prosthetic limb system is developed to simulate prosthetic limb interactions, then the design and evaluation efficiency is improved, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the prosthetic limb and interaction environment, allowing designers to simulate and evaluate prosthetic limb designs without building physical prototypes. This virtual model replicates the mechanical, sensory, and control characteristics of the actual prosthetic system, enabling efficient design iteration and testing while reducing the need for multiple physical prototypes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary simulations and evaluations of control algorithms and sensor configurations before actual implementation. By testing control strategies and sensor placements in the virtual environment first, the system identifies optimal configurations ahead of time, reducing the need for extensive physical testing and training adjustments later.
2Reliability
If realistic feedback and interaction simulation are added to the virtual system, then the training effectiveness for amputees is improved, but the computational requirements and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual system implements realistic feedback mechanisms that simulate the sensory information an amputee would receive from the prosthetic limb during interaction with virtual objects. This includes force feedback, position feedback, and other tactile sensations that help trainees understand the relationship between their control inputs and the resulting prosthetic limb actions, improving training effectiveness without requiring actual physical interaction.
3Measurement precision
If the virtual system connects with the patient's residual limb for bidirectional communication, then the control precision is improved, but the system complexity and difficulty of implementation increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the virtual environment as an intermediary between the patient's residual limb movements and the prosthetic limb control. By mapping residual limb movements to virtual prosthetic limb actions and providing visual and sensory feedback in the virtual space, the system enables bidirectional communication and control precision improvement without requiring direct complex neural or mechanical connections.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for configuring a prosthetic limb for use by a living being is provided. The system includes an electronic control unit (ECU) configured to receive a control signal generated in response to a command from the living being and to generate a plurality of virtual bodies on a display including members of a virtual prosthetic limb and at least one virtual object. The ECU is further configured to control movement of at least one member of the virtual limb responsive to the control signal, to determine a contact force between first and second virtual bodies of the plurality of virtual bodies upon engagement between the first and second bodies caused by movement of one of the one member of the virtual limb and the at least one virtual object and to adjust a position of at least one of the first and second bodies responsive to the contact force.