Intelligent Control and Dynamic Modeling for System of Human and Wheeled Robotic Walker

In order to develop assistive devices that involve physical human-robot interaction, a dynamical model of the human and the robot should be considered. This paper proposes a coupled dynamic model for human walking with a wheeled robotic walker together with a built-in fuzzy controller on the human model. The 2-D linear inverted pendulum mode is used to model human walking coupled through a parallel linear spring and damper to the walker robot. In order to generate a stable walking pattern, a fuzzy controller is implemented. The controller performance is compared to a conventional PID controller, and the results are validated with the experimental data of human walking along with a wheeled walker for five healthy subjects. The proposed model can be utilized in developing controllers for robotic walkers that consider the user's dynamics.