Safety monitoring and control system and methods for a legged mobility exoskeleton device

A method of controlling a mobility device including at least one drive component that drives at least one joint component, the control method comprising the steps of:

• providing said mobility device, said mobility device further including an electronic controller for controlling operation of the at least one drive component to selectively control the at least one joint component;
• storing, within said electronic controller, a control application to be executed by the electronic controller;
• providing, on said mobility device, a plurality of sensors to detect a state of the at least one drive component and/or the at least one joint component;
• providing, on said mobility device, a plurality of electronic indicators;
• and
• wherein the electronic controller executes the control application to perform the steps of:
• receiving sensor information from the sensors corresponding to operation of the mobility device;
• analyzing the sensor information and determining a control mode of operation based on the sensor information;
• generating a control signal to control the electronic indicators to output a visual alert that is visible to a user of the mobility device, the visual alert corresponding to the determined control mode of operation;
• and
• controlling the at least one drive component of the mobility device to selectively control the at least one joint component in accordance with the determined control mode of operation;
• wherein when the electronic controller determines that the control mode of operation is a device alerts control mode, the electronic controller further executes the control application to perform the steps of:
• receiving the sensor information from the sensors corresponding to the operation of the mobility device and further corresponding to a safety alert condition regarding said operation of the mobility device, the safety alert condition comprising a condition corresponding to a hazard as to which the user of the mobility device may not be aware and as to which the user can perform a specific action to resolve the safety alert condition in response to an alert of the safety alert condition;
• categorizing the safety alert condition by a degree of severity of the hazard;
• controlling the electronic indicators to output the visual alert to indicate the degree of severity of the safety alert condition;
• and
• controlling the mobility device in accordance with the degree of severity, by controlling an amount of torque applied by the drive component to the at least one joint component and the amount of torque is based upon the degree of severity;
• wherein:
• when the electronic controller categorizes the safety alert condition as a first level safety alert condition having a first degree of severity of the hazard, the electronic controller controls the at least one drive component to drive the at least one joint component in accordance with one or more modes of sitting, standing, walking, and transitions between modes of sitting, standing, or walking, else the plurality of sensors continue to detect the state of the at least one drive component and/or the at least one joint component;
• and
• when the electronic controller categorizes the safety alert condition to have a second degree of severity of the hazard greater than the first degree of severity corresponding to a medium level safety alert condition, the electronic controller controls the at least one drive component to drive the at least one joint component to limit torque to the at least one joint component so as to limit transitions between standing, walking, and sitting, else the plurality of sensors continue to detect the state of the at least one drive component and/or the at least one joint component.