A robust control concept for robotic ankle gait assistance

Previously we have developed lightweight and efficient, spring based actuators. The Robotic Tendon actuator is one such device. Testing of the earlier devices have shown good results both theoretically and experimentally in their implementation to human gait assistance. The current development is focused on a robust control methodology to support the Robotic Tendon device. This study has concluded that the stance phase of gait can be broken into five distinct zones in order to dictate controller behavior. Simulated control of these five zones have shown that simple velocity control and stiffness control meet the requirements necessary for robust gait assistance.