Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Open Access Master's Report

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MS)

Administrative Home Department

Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Advisor 1

Mo Rastgaar

Committee Member 1

Ossama Abdelkhalik

Committee Member 2

Steven J. Elmer

Abstract

A simulation was developed which mimics the human gait characteristics based on the input of an individual’s gait trajectory. This simulation also estimates the impedance of the human ankle based on the ground reaction forces measured by the force plate. This simulation will accept alterations of the following parameters: total body weight, weight of the shank, weight of the foot, trajectories of the shank and foot of the individual and orientation of the force plate, which would generate a new gait trajectory for the ankle during the stance phase of gait. The goal of this simulation was to validate the protocols followed during experiments conducted on human participants to estimate the impedance of the ankle. It also allowed us to understand and explore different system identification methods. The gait data of two individuals measured experimentally was used to build this simulation model. The simulation implements proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control and impedance control to regenerate the ankle trajectories with time-varying impedance of the ankle joint. This model was tested using the trajectories of the shank and foot from two additional individuals and replicated experimentally obtained ankle trajectories of these individuals, with a mean relative error of 0.53±0.3%, 5.74±4.85% and 4.94±3.13%, in ankle translational trajectory and ankle angular trajectories in dorsi-plantarflexion and inversion-eversion respectively.

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