Soft Exosuit for Assistance with Human Motion

A method of assisting motion of an ankle joint, comprising:

• determining a desired peak force or integral power to be generated by a wearable robotic system during a current gait cycle of a user;
• detecting a heel strike of the user;
• monitoring real-time measurements of a rotational velocity of the ankle of the user to detect a first change in direction of the measured rotational velocity of the ankle joint after the detection of the heel strike;
• generating an actuation profile according to which the wearable robotic system is actuated so as to deliver the desired peak force or integral power to the body of the user, wherein a peak amplitude of the actuation profile is selected based on:
• the desired peak force or integral power to be generated during the current gait cycle, and an adjustment configured to account for a difference between a peak force or an integral power generated by the wearable robotic system during at least one preceding gait cycle of the user and a desired peak force or desired integral power to be generated during the at least one preceding gait cycle;
• and
• in response to detecting the first change in direction of the measured rotational velocity of the ankle joint, actuating the wearable robotic system according to the actuation profile to assist with an plantarflexion motion of the ankle joint of the user.

A wearable robotic system for motion assistance to an ankle joint of a user, comprising:

• at least one sensor adapted to monitor real-time measurements of a rotational velocity of the ankle of the user to detect a first change in direction of the measured rotational velocity of the ankle joint after the detection of a heel strike;
• and
• at least one processor that is adapted to obtains computer executable instructions stored on a non-transitory medium that when executed by the at least one processor causes the wearable robotic system to:
• determine a desired peak force or integral power to be generated by the wearable robotic system during a current gait cycle of the user;
• detect the heel strike of the user;
• detect the first change in direction of the measured rotational velocity of the ankle joint;
• generate an actuation profile according to which the wearable robotic system is actuated so as to deliver the desired peak force or integral power to the body of the user, wherein a peak amplitude of the actuation profile is selected based on:
• the desired peak force or integral power to be generated during the current gait cycle, and an adjustment configured to account for a difference between a peak force or an integral power generated by the wearable robotic system during at least one preceding gait cycle of the user and a desired peak force or desired integral power to be generated during the at least one preceding gait cycle;
• and
• actuate the wearable robotic system according to the actuation profile to assist with an plantarflexion motion of the ankle joint of the user in response to detecting the first change in direction of the measured rotational velocity of the ankle joint.