Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 26, 2026
11:16
Engineering Platform and Experimental Protocol for Design and Evaluation of a Neurally-controlled Powered Transfemoral Prosthesis
Published on: July 22, 2014
16.8K
Robotic lower limb prosthesis design through simultaneous computer optimizations of human and prosthesis costs
Matthew L Handford1, Manoj Srinivasan1
1Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA.
Scientific Reports
|February 10, 2016
Summary
Predictive simulations for robotic lower limb prostheses can accelerate development. Optimizing human movement and prosthesis control simultaneously reduces amputee metabolic cost, potentially below non-amputee levels.
Area of Science:
- Biomechanics
- Robotics
- Human-Computer Interaction
Background:
- Robotic lower limb prostheses enhance amputee quality of life.
- Current development relies on lengthy prototyping cycles.
- Predictive simulations offer a method to accelerate device design.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a predictive simulation model for amputee walking with robotic prostheses.
- To explicitly model human-prosthesis interaction for kinematic prediction.
- To optimize prosthesis actuation and human movement simultaneously.
Main Methods:
- Simultaneous optimization of human kinematics and robotic prosthesis actuation.
- Minimization of a weighted cost function including human metabolic and prosthesis costs.
- Generation of Pareto optimal solutions exploring trade-offs between human and prosthesis performance.
Main Results:
- Optimized solutions predict reduced human metabolic rate with increased prosthesis energy cost, decreased mass, and asymmetric gaits.
- Human metabolic rate increases monotonically with walking speed.
- An amputee using an optimized robotic prosthesis may achieve lower metabolic cost than a non-amputee.
Conclusions:
- Simultaneous optimization provides a powerful tool for designing advanced robotic prostheses.
- Personalized prosthesis control can significantly improve amputee walking economy.
- Robotic prostheses have the potential to restore or even surpass natural limb function.
