Foot plantar pressure is the pressure field that acts between the foot and the support surface during everyday locomotor activities. Information derived from such pressure measures is important in gait and posture research for diagnosing lower limb problems, footwear design, sport biomechanics, injury prevention and other applications. This paper reviews foot plantar sensors characteristics as reported in the literature in addition to foot plantar pressure measurement systems applied to a variety of research problems. Strengths and limitations of current systems are discussed and a wireless foot plantar pressure system is proposed suitable for measuring high pressure distributions under the foot with high accuracy and reliability. The novel system is based on highly linear pressure sensors with no hysteresis.

Foot plantar pressure measurement system: a review.

Flexible sensors can be envisioned as promising components for smart sensing applications, including consumer electronics, robotics, prosthetics, health care, safety equipment, environmental monitoring, homeland security and space flight. The current review presents a concise, although admittedly nonexhaustive, didactic review of some of the main concepts and approaches related to the use of nanoparticles (NPs) in flexible sensors. The review attempts to pull together different views and terminologies used in the NP-based sensors, mainly those established via electrical transduction approaches, including, but, not confined to: (i) strain-gauges, (ii) flexible multiparametric sensors, and (iii) sensors that are unaffected by mechanical deformation. For each category, the review presents and discusses the common fabrication approaches and state-of-the-art results. The advantages, weak points, and possible routes for future research, highlighting the challenges for NP-based flexible sensors, are presented an...

Flexible Sensors Based on Nanoparticles

Neurologic injuries, such as stroke, spinal cord injuries, and weaknesses of skeletal muscles with elderly people, may considerably limit the ability of this population to achieve the main daily living activities. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in the development of wearable devices, the so-called exoskeletons, to assist elderly as well as patients with limb pathologies, for movement assistance and rehabilitation. In this paper, we review and discuss the state of the art of the lower limb exoskeletons that are mainly used for physical movement assistance and rehabilitation. An overview of the commonly used actuation systems is presented. According to different case studies, a classification and comparison between different types of actuators is conducted, such as hydraulic actuators, electrical motors, series elastic actuators, and artificial pneumatic muscles. Additionally, the mainly used control strategies in lower limb exoskeletons are classified and reviewed, based on three types of human–robot interfaces: the signals collected from the human body, the interaction forces between the exoskeleton and the wearer, and the signals collected from exoskeletons. Furthermore, the performances of several typical lower limb exoskeletons are discussed, and some assessment methods and performance criteria are reviewed. Finally, a discussion of the major advances that have been made, some research directions, and future challenges are presented.

Lower Limb Wearable Robots for Assistance and Rehabilitation: A State of the Art

Electromyographical (EMG) signals have been frequently used to estimate human muscular torques. In the field of human-assistive robotics, these methods provide valuable information to provide effectively support to the user. However, their usability is strongly limited by the necessity of complex user-dependent and session-dependent calibration procedures, which confine their use to the laboratory environment. Nonetheless, an accurate estimate of muscle torque could be unnecessary to provide effective movement assistance to users. The natural ability of human central nervous system of adapting to external disturbances could compensate for a lower accuracy of the torque provided by the robot and maintain the movement accuracy unaltered, while the effort is reduced. In order to explore this possibility, in this paper we study the reaction of ten healthy subjects to the assistance provided through a proportional EMG control applied by an elbow powered exoskeleton. This system gives only a rough estimate of the user muscular torque but does not require any specific calibration. Experimental results clearly show that subjects adapt almost instantaneously to the assistance provided by the robot and can reduce their effort while keeping full control of the movement under different dynamic conditions (i.e., no alterations of movement accuracy are observed).

Intention-Based EMG Control for Powered Exoskeletons

This paper presents design and batch manufacturing of a highly stretchable textile-silicone capacitive sensor to be used in human articulation detection, soft robotics, and exoskeletons. The proposed sensor is made of conductive knit fabric as electrode and silicone elastomer as dielectric. The batch manufacturing technology enables production of large sensor mat and arbitrary shaping of sensors, which is precisely achieved via laser cutting of the sensor mat. Individual capacitive sensors exhibit high linearity, low hysteresis, and a gauge factor of 1.23. Compliant, low-profile, and robust electrical connections are established by fusing filaments of micro coaxial cable to conductive fabric electrodes of the sensor with thermoplastic film. The capacitive sensors are integrated on a reconstructed glove for monitoring finger motions.

Batch Fabrication of Customizable Silicone‐Textile Composite Capacitive Strain Sensors for Human Motion Tracking

We present a sensor technology for the measure of the physical human-robot interaction pressure developed in the last years at Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. The system is composed of flexible matrices of opto-electronic sensors covered by a soft silicone cover. This sensory system is completely modular and scalable, allowing one to cover areas of any sizes and shapes, and to measure different pressure ranges. In this work we present the main application areas for this technology. A first generation of the system was used to monitor human-robot interaction in upper- (NEUROExos; Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna) and lower-limb (LOPES; University of Twente) exoskeletons for rehabilitation. A second generation, with increased resolution and wireless connection, was used to develop a pressure-sensitive foot insole and an improved human-robot interaction measurement systems. The experimental characterization of the latter system along with its validation on three healthy subjects is presented here for the first time. A perspective on future uses and development of the technology is finally drafted.

/pdf/a-flexible-sensor-technology-for-the-distributed-measurement-4ym9sifrim.pdf

A Flexible Sensor Technology for the Distributed Measurement of Interaction Pressure

This paper presents an experimental investigation on a novel interface for high level control of mechatronic systems, by exploiting voluntary user's foot movements. Based on a biomechanical analysis of the foot anatomy and joint kinematics, a sensory system is designed for detecting pressure variations on selected areas of the insole, obtained from four different foot movements that can be purposively controlled by the person. A prototype is developed that integrates four sensitive areas, battery, and electronics into a wearable insole; electronics are used for data acquisition and wireless transmission, in order to have a stand-alone device. The prototype foot interface is experimentally tested in the control of a prosthetic hand, as a model of a typical device that can be effectively operated by foot movements. Experimental trials were conducted with ten able-bodied subjects and the results confirmed the usability and effectiveness of the foot interface in terms of correct and prompt transmission of the user's intention to the controlled device. Comparative experimental trials were performed with electromyography (EMG)-based control of the same prosthesis, which represents the most advanced interface currently available in clinical implants for amputees. The comparative results showed a significant decrease in required adaptation and learning from the user's side

A Wearable Biomechatronic Interface for Controlling Robots with Voluntary Foot Movements

Measuring human-robot interaction on wearable robots: A distributed approach

Biomechatronic Interface for Controlling Robots with Voluntary Foot Movements

This paper presents a flexible contact sensor for application on robotic fingers of prosthetic hand. The sensor is intended to provide contact sensing functionality when the finger is interacting with the environment. The sensor is based on optoelectronic infrared components mounted on a flexible substrate and connected by means of elastic electrical wires. The adopted configuration allows high sensitivities and fast responses. An important feature of the sensor is that the activation thresholds for contact sensing can be simply and precisely tuneable.

Optoelectronic-Based Flexible Contact Sensor for Prosthetic Hand Application

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