Human Machine System Control for Persons with Operating Deficiencies

The paper focuses on the design of a control system for an operator with Parkinson's diseases driving an electric vehicle. The fractional order model of a person with Parkinson’s disease is discussed. The fractional model is extended to the dynamics of an electric car operated by a person with disabilities. The associated mathematical models are analyzed, insisting on the influence of dead times on driving performance. The effects generated by dead times on the visual perception of motion parameters as well as dead times on the generation of a control decision are discussed, times determined by the incapacity of the operator affected by Parkinson's disease. Methods for approximating the dead time dynamics are proposed and the stability of the human-machine system is investigated, as a hierarchical system, using vector Lyapunov techniques. The theoretical results are verified by numerical simulation.