Dynamic modeling and torque estimation of FES-assisted arm-free standing for paraplegics

This paper presents an application of recent findings in the field of redundant robotic systems' control, toward investigating the feasibility of functional electrical stimulation (FES) assisted arm-free standing for paraplegics. Twelve degrees-of-freedom (DOF) forward and inverse dynamic models of quiet standing have been developed. These models were used to investigate the minimum number of DOF that would need to be actuated in order to generate stable quiet standing in paraplegics despite internal and external disturbances. The results presented herein suggest that the proposed nonlinear dynamic model could achieve guaranteed asymptotic stability with only six active DOF, assuming that the remaining six DOF are passive, i.e., there is no active or passive torques applied to those DOF. The stability analyses were performed using a proportional and derivative (PD) controller coupled with gravity compensation. The results of this analysis suggest that if only six particular DOF are actively controlled in a paraplegic subject, this individual should be able to achieve stable quiet standing despite disturbances. This result has both clinical and system-design implications for the development of a device that will facilitate FES-assisted arm-free quiet standing. The clinical implication is, if a paraplegic patient can exert voluntary control over specified six DOF in the lower limbs, that patient, after intensive physiotherapy, will have the potential to perform quiet standing unassisted. The system-design implication is that FES-assisted arm-free standing for paraplegics is theoretically plausible if one would actively control only six out of 12 DOF in the lower limbs. The proposed solution does not require the locking of joints in the lower limbs (commonly applied in the field) or voluntary control of the upper body to compensate for the internal and external disturbances. Another important finding of this study is the existence of six different combinations of six active DOF able to facilitate stable quiet standing. This dynamic redundancy of the biological bipedal stance allows the selection of an ideal subset of six DOF in designing a neuroprosthesis for standing. This further implies that a considerably less complex FES system than previously anticipated needs to be developed for FES-assisted standing.