Finite-State Control of Powered Below-Knee Prosthesis with Ankle and Toe

Current finite-state control strategies for powered below-knee prosthesis, though effective to the normal gait, can not eliminate the disturbance of abnormal gaits such as slip and stamp. In addition, toe joint is not taken into consideration. This paper presents a finite-state control strategy for a powered below-knee prosthesis with ankle and toe. We first introduce the concerned prosthesis prototype in detail. By dividing the walking gait with toe and joint into more states and setting stricter transition conditions, the gait identification becomes more accurate and gait disturbance such as slip and stamp can be eliminated. Experimental results show that the proposed method improves the accuracy of gait identification. It makes the motion of the prosthesis more natural and provides better bases for control.