Motion assist device

• US 8,317,732 B2
• Filed: 08/19/2008
• Issued: 11/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Yasuhara, Ken, Shimada, Kei, Endo, Yosuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Yu, Justine
• Assistant Examiner(s): PETRIK, KARI K
• Application Number:
  US12/447,776
• Publication Number:
  US 20100004577A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,561 Days
• Field of Search: 601/5, 601 33- 35, 601/23, 602/16, 602 23- 25, 703/11, 700245-264, 600/587, 600/595
• US Class Current: 601/5
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 1/0244 Hip A61H1/0255 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/1215 Rotary drive
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/1616 Holding means therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/1628 Pelvis
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/1635 Hand or arm, e.g. handle hand-held, A61H2201/0153; fore-arm support, A61H2003/006
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/164 Feet or leg, e.g. pedal
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/1642 Holding means therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/165 Wearable interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/1676 Pivoting
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/5069 Angle sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 3/00 Appliances for aiding patients or disabled persons to walk about apparatus for helping babies to walk A47D13/04; orthopaedic devices for correcting deformities of, or supporting, limbs A61F5/0102; exercising apparatus for the feet or toes A63B23/10; stairways or ramps E04F11/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 3/008 Using suspension devices for supporting the body in an upright walking or standing position, e.g. harnesses drawing-out devices A61H1/0218
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 21/4011 to the lower limbs means for physically limiting movements of body parts A63B69/0057
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 23/04 for lower limbs training appliances for special sports A63B69/00; for the purpose of producing mechanical power F03G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/0006 Exoskeletons, i.e. resembling a human figure

Abstract

Provided is a device capable of assisting a periodical motion of a creature, such as a human, by applying a force to the creature so as to match a motion rhythm and a motion scale of the periodical motion to a desired motion rhythm and a desired motion scale, respectively, while reducing computation processing load. According to a motion assist device (10) of the present invention, a value of a member or a coefficient contained in a simultaneous differential equation of a state variable (u_i) for defining a second model which generates a second oscillator (ξ₂) is adjusted by means of an adjusting device (14). The second oscillator (ξ₂) is generated by the adjusted second model and a torque (T) applied to a human (P) is controlled to vary periodically according to the second oscillator (ξ₂).

Claims

1. A motion assist device which comprises an orthosis adapted to be mounted on a creature, an actuator connected to the orthosis, and a controlling device configured to control an amplitude and a period or phase of an output of the actuator, and assists a periodical motion of the creature by applying the output to the creature through the orthosis,

the controlling device including:

a motion oscillator determination element configured to determine a motion oscillator as a variable which periodically varies according to the motion of the creature;

a single oscillator generation model stored on the controlling device, the single oscillator generation model defined by a simultaneous differential equation of a plurality of state variables representing a behavior state of the creature for generating an output oscillation signal varying at an angular velocity defined according to an intrinsic angular velocity on the basis of an input oscillation signal;

an oscillator generation element configured to generate an oscillator as the output oscillation signal from the single oscillator generation model stored on the controlling device by inputting the motion oscillator determined by the motion oscillator determination element as the input oscillation signal to the single oscillator generation model so as to generate the oscillator; and

an adjusting device configured to adjust a value of a member or a coefficient contained in the simultaneous differential equation of the single oscillator generation model,

wherein the controlling device is configured to control the amplitude and the period or phase of the output of the actuator using the oscillator as a control basis, the single oscillator generation model is an only oscillator generation model stored on the controlling device, and the single oscillator qeneration model is an only oscillator generation model used to generate the oscillator.

2. The motion assist device according to claim 1, wherein the simultaneous differential equation for defining the single oscillator generation model contains a time constant representing a variation pattern of the plurality of state variables, and a value of the time constant is adjusted by the adjusting device.

3. The motion assist device according to claim 2, wherein the simultaneous differential equation for defining the single oscillator generation model contains a coefficient related to a desired value of a motion variable representing a motion scale of the creature, and a value of the coefficient is adjusted by the adjusting device.

4. The motion assist device according to claim 3, wherein the adjusting device includes an adjusting button which is configured for manual operation by the creature, and the value of the time constant and the coefficient related to the desired value of the motion variable representing the motion scale of the creature contained in the simultaneous differential equation of the single oscillator generation model are adjusted through manual operation of the adjusting button by the creature.

5. The motion assist device according to claim 2, wherein the adjusting device includes an adjusting button which is configured for manual operation by the creature, and the value of the time constant contained in the simultaneous differential equation of the single oscillator generation model is adjusted through manual operation of the adjusting button by the creature.

6. The motion assist device according to claim 1, wherein the simultaneous differential equation for defining the single oscillator generation model contains a coefficient related to a desired value of a motion variable representing a motion scale of the creature, and a value of the coefficient is adjusted by the adjusting device.

7. The motion assist device according to claim 6, wherein the adjusting device includes an adjusting button which is configured for manual operation by the creature, and the value of the coefficient related to the desired value of the motion variable representing the motion scale of the creature contained in the simultaneous differential equation of the single oscillator generation model is adjusted through manual operation of the adjusting button by the creature.

8. The motion assist device according to claim 1, wherein the orthosis includes a first orthosis configured to be mounted on a first body part, a second orthosis configured to be mounted on a second body part and a third orthosis configured to be mounted on a third body part of the creature;

the actuator is directly connected to the first orthosis and the second orthosis and is indirectly connected to the third orthosis through the second orthosis as an intermediary.

9. The motion assist device according to claim 8, wherein the third orthosis includes a supporter configured to be mounted to a bottom of a foot of the creature.

10. The motion assist device according to claim 1, wherein the variable which periodically varies according to the motion of the creature is an angle of each hip joint, and the motion oscillator determination element is configured to determine the motion oscillator as the angle of each hip joint.

11. The motion assist device according to claim 10, further comprising a hip joint angle sensor configured to measure a hip joint angle for each hip of the creature, and to communicate the measured hip joint angle for each hip to the motion oscillator determination element.

12. The motion assist device according to claim 1, wherein the adjusting device includes an adjusting button which is configured for manual operation by the creature, and the value of the member or the coefficient contained in the simultaneous differential equation of the single oscillator generation model is adjusted through manual operation of the adjusting button by the creature.

13. The motion assist device according to claim 12, wherein the variable which periodically varies according to the motion of the creature is an angle of each hip joint, and the motion oscillator determination element is configured to determine the motion oscillator as the angle of each hip joint.