Phase-Based Impedance Control of a Powered Knee-Ankle Prosthesis for
Tuning-Free Locomotion over Speeds and Inclines
Abstract
Most impedance-based walking controllers use a finite state machine
(FSM) with dozens of user-specific parameters that need to be manually
tuned by technical experts. These parameters are only optimal near the
task (\eg walking speed and incline) at which they were
tuned, resulting in decreased performance as task inevitably varies.
This paper presents a tuning-free, phase-based controller that uses a
hybrid combination of continuously-variable impedance control during
stance and kinematic control during swing to enable biomimetic
locomotion over a continuum of tasks. After generating a data-driven
model of variable joint impedance with convex optimization, we implement
a novel task-invariant phase variable and real-time estimates of speed
and incline to enable the controller to autonomously adapt to task
variation. Experiments with an amputee participant using a powered
knee-ankle prosthesis show that our tuning-free controller 1) features
highly-linear phase estimates and accurate task estimates, 2) produces
more biomimetic joint work trends compared to a hand-tuned FSM impedance
controller, and 3) achieves lower kinematic and kinetic error than the
FSM impedance controller in 7 of 8 tested metrics. Our data-driven
control approach may allow easier clinical implementation of
variable-activity powered knee-ankle prostheses by replicating
biological behavior across tasks without expert tuning.