A modular six-directional force sensor for prosthetic assessment: a technical note

A device designed to measure the forces and moments transmitted through prostheses of persons with lower limb amputation is presented. The sensing unit design is an advancement over previous prosthesis force measurement devices in that it is very thin (19 mm) and lightweight (527.5 g, including signal-conditioning instrumentation). The disk-shaped transducer fits between the socket and socket adapter of a standard modular prosthesis, measuring all six force and moment components at this location. Twelve strain gages were used, configured into six two-arm active Wheatstone bridge circuits. A 6X6 matrix was constructed from calibration data to relate the 6-component bridge-output vector to a 6-component force and moment vector. In a bench-test setting, the sensor was evaluated under typical load combinations encountered during the walking of a person with transtibial amputation (TTA) and shown to have errors less than 7.2% of the full-scale output for each direction. Data collected on a subject with TTA walking at different speeds are presented.