SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN OF A SYMMETRY CONTROLLER FOR FES CYCLING OPTIMISED ON STROKE PATIENTS

Emilia Ambrosini, Simona Ferrante, Thomas Schauer, Alessandra Pedrocchi, Giancarlo Ferrigno

2009

Abstract

This study deals with the design of a controller for FES cycling able to assure a symmetrical pedalling. This controller is exploitable in the rehabilitation of patients with unilateral neurological disorders which need to recover a symmetrical use of the legs. The controller updates the values of pulse width used in the stimulation of the two legs in order to nullify the unbalance between the torques produced at the cranks and then to maintain a symmetrical pedalling. The controller was tested first in simulation by means of a neuro-musculo skeletal model of a stroke patient which identifies the kinematic and dynamic of cycling induced by FES. After a stability analysis and an optimization of the controller tuning performed in simulation, the controller was tested experimentally on a healthy subject. The results of this trial show that the controller is able to reach a symmetrical pedalling in about 18 s, starting from an unbalance of 0.73 Nm. Furthermore, it is able to maintain a symmetrical task with small oscillations of the PWs. Thus, its employment in the rehabilitation of stroke patients could be crucial in the recovery of motor functions, such as walking, where a cyclical symmetrical motor task is required.

References

  1. Sheffler, L.R., Chae, J. (2007) 'Neuromuscular electrical stimulation in neurorehabilitation', Muscle & Nerve, vol. 35, no. 5, pp. 562-590.
  2. Hunt, K.J., Stone, B., Negard, N.O., Schauer, T., Fraser, M.H., Cathcart, A.J., Ferrario, C., Ward, S.A., Grant, S. (2004) 'Control strategies for integration of electric motor assist and functional electrical stimulation in paraplegic cycling: utility for exercise testing and mobile cycling', IEEE Transactions on Neural and Rehabilitation Systems Engineering, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 88-101.
  3. Trumbower, R.D., Faghri, P.D. (2005) 'Kinematic analyses of semireclined leg cycling in able-bodied and spinal cord injured individuals', Spinal Cord, vol. 43, no. 9, pp. 543-549.
  4. Ferrante, S., Pedrocchi, A., Ferrigno, G., Molteni, F. (2008a) 'Cycling induced by functional electrical stimulation improves the muscular strength and the motor controls of individuals with post-acute stroke', European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, vol. 44, no.2, pp. 159-167.
  5. Hunt, K.J., Ferrario, C., Grant, S., Stone, B., Mclean, A.N., Fraser, M. H., Allan, D.B. (2006) 'Comparison of stimulation patterns for FES-cycling using measures of oxygen cost and stimulation cost', Medical Engineering & Physics, vol. 28, no. 7, pp. 710-718.
  6. Ferrante, S., Comolli, L., Pedrocchi, A., Bocciolone, M., Ferrigno, G., Molteni F. (2008b) 'Optimization of FES cycling neuroprosthesis on stroke patients by means of the left and right crank measurement', Biodevices - Conference Proceedings, International Conference on Biomedical Electronics and Devices, Madeira, Portugal, pp. 206-211.
  7. Riener, R., Fuhr, T. (1998) 'Patient-driven control of FESsupported standing up: a simulation study', IEEE Transactions on Rehabilitation Engineering, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 113-124.
  8. Abbas, J., Chizack, H. (1995) 'Neural network control of functional neuromuscular stimulation systems: Computer simulation studies', IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 42, no. 11, pp. 1117- 1127.
  9. Ambrosini, E., Schauer, T., Ferrante, S., Pedrocchi, A., Ferrigno, G (2008) 'Neuro-muscolo skeletal model for cycling induced by functional electrical stimulation in individuals with stroke', accepted by 9th International Workshop on Research and Education in Mechatronics, Bergamo, Italy.
Download


Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

Ambrosini E., Ferrante S., Schauer T., Pedrocchi A. and Ferrigno G. (2009). SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN OF A SYMMETRY CONTROLLER FOR FES CYCLING OPTIMISED ON STROKE PATIENTS . In Proceedings of the International Conference on Biomedical Electronics and Devices - Volume 1: BIODEVICES, (BIOSTEC 2009) ISBN 978-989-8111- 64-7, pages 245-250. DOI: 10.5220/0001548802450250


in Bibtex Style

@conference{biodevices09,
author={Emilia Ambrosini and Simona Ferrante and Thomas Schauer and Alessandra Pedrocchi and Giancarlo Ferrigno},
title={SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN OF A SYMMETRY CONTROLLER FOR FES CYCLING OPTIMISED ON STROKE PATIENTS},
booktitle={Proceedings of the International Conference on Biomedical Electronics and Devices - Volume 1: BIODEVICES, (BIOSTEC 2009)},
year={2009},
pages={245-250},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0001548802450250},
isbn={978-989-8111- 64-7},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the International Conference on Biomedical Electronics and Devices - Volume 1: BIODEVICES, (BIOSTEC 2009)
TI - SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN OF A SYMMETRY CONTROLLER FOR FES CYCLING OPTIMISED ON STROKE PATIENTS
SN - 978-989-8111- 64-7
AU - Ambrosini E.
AU - Ferrante S.
AU - Schauer T.
AU - Pedrocchi A.
AU - Ferrigno G.
PY - 2009
SP - 245
EP - 250
DO - 10.5220/0001548802450250