Modeling and Loop Shaping of Single-Joint Amplification Exoskeleton with Contact Sensing and Series Elastic Actuation

In this paper we consider a class of exoskeletons designed to amplify the strength of humans through feedback of sensed human-robot interactions and actuator forces. We define an amplification error signal based on a reference amplification rate, and design a linear feedback compensator to attenuate this error. Since the human operator is an integral part of the system, we design the compensator to be robust to both a realistic variation in human impedance and a large variation in load impedance. We demonstrate our strategy on a one-degree of freedom amplification exoskeleton connected to a human arm, following a three dimensional matrix of experimentation: slow or fast human motion; light or extreme exoskeleton load; and soft or clenched human arm impedances. We demonstrate that a slightly aggressive controller results in a borderline stable system-but only for soft human musculoeskeletal behavior and a heavy load. This class of exoskeleton systems is interesting because it can both amplify a human's interaction forces -so long as the human contacts the environment through the exoskeleton- and attenuate the operator's perception of the exoskeleton's reflected dynamics at frequencies within the bandwidth of the control.