Wearable Robot Arm Motion Intent Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current wearable robots lack the ability to effectively assist users in walking by accurately determining and responding to the user's intent, leading to inefficient assistance in various walking scenarios.
Innovation Solution
A wearable robot system that includes a mechanism unit for assisting walking, a detection unit to detect the user's arm motion, and a controller to determine the user's walking intent based on arm direction, producing auxiliary torque to support the intended motion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the wearable robot uses simple motion detection, then the device complexity is reduced, but the accuracy of determining user walking intent deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses arm movement as an intermediary signal to infer leg movement intent. The detection unit detects arm motion, and the controller interprets this as a mediator to determine the user's walking intent without directly monitoring complex leg joint sensors, thus reducing device complexity while maintaining intent determination accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical sensing systems at the joints with a simpler optical or electromagnetic detection system that tracks arm movement. This substitution reduces device complexity while the controller's interpretation algorithms maintain the precision needed for accurate intent determination.
2Measurement precision
If the wearable robot directly monitors leg joint motion, then the intent determination accuracy is improved, but the ease of operation deteriorates due to complex sensor placement and calibration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the intent detection function from the leg joint area and relocates it to the arm area. By placing the detection unit on the upper body to monitor arm movement rather than attaching multiple sensors to leg joints, the system maintains intent determination accuracy while significantly improving ease of operation through simpler sensor placement and calibration.
3Speed
If the wearable robot responds immediately to detected motion, then the responsiveness is improved, but the reliability of assistance deteriorates due to false detection of user intent
Solution Approach 1:
The controller performs preliminary interpretation of detected arm motion patterns before generating auxiliary torque. By analyzing the detected motion in context of expected walking patterns and only responding when the pattern matches genuine walking intent, the system maintains responsiveness while improving reliability by filtering out false detections.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms where the controller continuously monitors detected arm motion and adjusts its interpretation based on ongoing patterns. This feedback loop allows the system to respond quickly to genuine intent while filtering false detections, thereby maintaining both responsiveness and reliability of assistance.
Data Source
AI summary
A wearable robot includes a mechanism unit for assisting an wearer of the wearable robot in walking motion; a detection unit equipped on the wearer's body for detecting a moving direction of an arm of the wearer; and a controller for determining a walking intent of the wearer based on the moving direction of the arm of the wearer detected by the detection unit, and controlling the mechanism unit to produce auxiliary torque corresponding to the determined walking intent.