Wearable sensory apparatus for real-time feedback in wearable robotics

Munih, Marko (author), Ivanić, Zoran (author), Kamnik, Roman (author)

We describe the Wearable Sensory Apparatus (WSA) System, which has been implemented and verified in accordance with the relevant standards. It comprises the Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs), real-time wireless data transmission over Ultrawideband (UWB), a Master Unit and several IMU dongles forming the Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN). The WSA is designed for, but is not restricted to, wearable robots. The paper focuses on the topology of the communication network, the WSA hardware, and the organization of the WSA firmware. The experimental evaluation of the WSA incorporates the confirmation of the timing using the supply current WSA profile, measurements related to determining the less error prone position of the master device on the backpack, measurements of the quality of the data transfer in a real environment scenario, measurements in the presence of other microwave signals, and an example of raw IMU signals during human walking. Placement of the master device on the top of the backpack was found to be less error prone, with less than 0.02% packet loss for all the IMU devices placed on different body segments. The packet loss did not change significantly in public buildings or on the street. There was no impact of Wi-Fi bands on the WSA data transfer. The WSA hardware and firmware passed conformance testing in a certified lab. Most importantly, the WSA performed reliably in the laboratory and in clinical tests with exoskeletons and prostheses.

• Language: English
• Keywords: inertial measurement unit, wearable sensors, whole body awareness, gait phase detection, control strategy, exoskeleton, robotic prosthetics
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FE - Faculty of Electrical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: 20 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 11, iss. 23, art. 11487
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-136694
• UDC: 007.52
• ISSN on article: 2076-3417
• DOI: 10.3390/app112311487
• COBISS.SI-ID: 87901187
• Publication date in RUL: 16.05.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Applied sciences
• Shortened title: Appl. sci.
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2076-3417
• COBISS.SI-ID: 522979353

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 03.12.2021

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: inercijska merilna enota, nosljivi senzorji, zaznavanje celega telesa, detekcija faz hoje, vodenje, eksoskelet, robotska proteza