Controlling a Powered Knee-Ankle Prosthesis with Automatic Adjustments to Walking Speed and Incline

Most powered prosthesis walking controllers use a finite state machine (FSM) with dozens of user-specific parameters that need to be manually tuned by technical experts. These parameters are only optimal near the task (e.g., walking speed and incline) at which they were tuned, resulting in decreased performance as task inevitably varies. This video shows a tuning-free, phase-based controller that uses a hybrid combination of continuously-variable impedance control during stance and kinematic control during swing to enable biomimetic locomotion over a continuum of tasks. Supplemental multimedia for the article: T. K. Best, C. Welker, E. Rouse, and R. Gregg, “Phase-Based Impedance Control of a Powered Knee-Ankle Prosthesis for Tuning-Free Locomotion over Speeds and Inclines,“ under review. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.