Fuzzy-Neuro Control of an Exoskeletal Robot for Human Elbow Motion Support

We are developing exoskeletal robots for human (especially for physically weak people) motion support. In this paper, we propose a fuzzy-neuro control method for a 1DOF exoskeletal robot to support the human elbow motion. The proposed controller controls the angular position and impedance of the exoskeltal robot system based on vague biological signals that reflect the human subject’s intention. Skin surface electromyogram (EMG) signals and the generated wrist force by the human subject during the elbow motion have been used as input information of the controller. Because of the adaptation ability of the fuzzy-neuro control, the robot is flexible enough to deal with vague biological signal such as EMG. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed controller.