Tracking control of a human limb during asynchronous neuromuscular electrical stimulation

Ryan J. Downey, Teng-Hu Cheng, Warren E. Dixon

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is defined as the use of an electrical stimulus to elicit muscle contractions and is commonly used in rehabilitative settings. NMES is also used for assistive purposes to create functional movements where it is termed functional electrical stimulation (FES). One limitation of NMES/FES is early onset of fatigue due to the nonselective, spatially fixed, synchronous activation of motor units. Asynchronous stimulation can reduce NMESinduced fatigue; however, one limitation of asynchronous stimulation is that switching between stimulation channels may introduce discontinuities due to a differing response to stimulation by each group of recruited motor units. Thus, there is a need to design a controller which considers the switching dynamics and muscle response to stimulation during asynchronous stimulation. A closed-loop feedback controller is developed in this paper to yield semi-global asymptotic tracking of a desired trajectory for a person's knee-shank complex during asynchronous stimulation. The result is promising for the implementation of asynchronous stimulation in assistive devices as a method to reduce fatigue while tracking a desired trajectory.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2013 IEEE 52nd Annual Conference on Decision and Control, CDC 2013
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages139-144
Number of pages6
ISBN (Print)9781467357173
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2013
Event52nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, CDC 2013 - Florence, Italy
Duration: 10 Dec 201313 Dec 2013

Publication series

NameProceedings of the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control
ISSN (Print)0191-2216

Conference

Conference52nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, CDC 2013
Country/TerritoryItaly
CityFlorence
Period10/12/1313/12/13

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