Better prosthetics: $3M to develop more natural robotic leg control

An effort to create a control model that moves seamlessly between different activities like standing, walking and climbing stairs is renewed by the National Institutes of Health. A smoother experience for robotic prosthetic leg users is the aim of a University of Michigan project that has received renewed support from the National Institutes of Health. The R01 grant of $3 million will also enable the implementation of the researchers' improved control program on a commercially available robotic prosthetic leg. Sit to stand, stand to walk, up and down stairs and inclines-the human body shifts among these activities almost thoughtlessly. But these transitions are hard for robots, and robotic prosthetic legs have the additional challenge of not being hooked into the human user's central nervous system to stay synchronized with their body. Working on the problem since 2013, principal investigator Robert Gregg , an associate professor of robotics, saw early success controlling the position of the knee and ankle joints through a model that continuously represents all stages of the gait cycle. Previously, robotic prosthetic legs used separate controllers for each stage in the gait cycle like the heel strike, push-off and swing.