@article{dezman2023,

title = {A mechatronic leg replica to benchmark human\textendashexoskeleton physical interactions},

author = {Miha De\v{z}man and Stefano Massardi and David Pinto-Fernandez and Victor Grosu and Carlos Rodriguez-Guerrero and Jan Babi\v{c} and Diego Torricelli},

doi = {10.1088/1748-3190/accda8},

issn = {1748-3182},

year  = {2023},

date = {2023-01-01},

urldate = {2023-01-01},

journal = {Bioinspiration \& Biomimetics},

volume = {18},

issue = {3},

pages = {036009},

abstract = {Evaluating human\textendashexoskeleton interaction typically requires experiments with human subjects, which raises safety issues and entails time-consuming testing procedures. This paper presents a mechatronic replica of a human leg, which was designed to quantify physical interaction dynamics between exoskeletons and human limbs without the need for human testing. In the first part of this work, we present the mechanical, electronic, sensory system and software solutions integrated in our leg replica prototype. In the second part, we used the leg replica to test its interaction with two types of commercially available wearable devices, i.e. an active full leg exoskeleton and a passive knee orthosis. We ran basic test examples to demonstrate the functioning and benchmarking potential of the leg replica to assess the effects of joint misalignments on force transmission. The integrated force sensors embedded in the leg replica detected higher interaction forces in the misaligned scenario in comparison to the aligned one, in both active and passive modalities. The small standard deviation of force measurements across cycles demonstrates the potential of the leg replica as a standard test method for reproducible studies of human-exoskeleton physical interaction.},

keywords = {Exoskeleton Design and Control, Neuromusculoskeletal Modelling, Physical Human Robot Interaction, Robot Design},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Babic2019,

title = {SPEXOR: Design and development of passive spinal exoskeletal robot for low back pain prevention and vocational reintegration},

author = {Jan Babi\v{c} and Tadej Petri\v{c} and Katja Mombaur and Idsart Kingma and Jonas Bornmann and Jose Gonzalez-Vargas and Saskia Baltrusch and Nejc \v{S}arabon and Han Houdijk},

url = {http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s42452-019-0266-1},

doi = {10.1007/s42452-019-0266-1},

issn = {2523-3963},

year  = {2019},

date = {2019-03-01},

urldate = {2019-03-01},

journal = {SN Applied Sciences},

volume = {1},

number = {3},

pages = {262},

abstract = {The objective of SPEXOR project is to address low back pain as one of the most appealing health problems of the modern society by creating a body of scientific and technological knowledge in the multidisciplinary areas of biomechanics, robotics, and computer science that will lead to technologies for low back pain prevention. In this paper we provide an overview of the current state-of-art of SPEXOR that the consortium achieved in the first twenty-four months of the project. After introducing the rationale, we describe the biomechanics of low back pain intervention, development of the musculoskeletal stress monitoring for assessment of neuromuscular trunk functions, modeling and optimization of the interaction of spinal exoskeleton with the human body, electromechanical design and development of the passive spinal exoskeleton and its control, and finally the end-user evaluation of the functional effects, usability and satisfaction.},

keywords = {Exoskeleton Design and Control, Robot Design},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Potocanac2017,

title = {A robotic system for delivering novel real-time, movement dependent perturbations},

author = {Zrinka Poto\v{c}anac and Rok Goljat and Jan Babi\v{c}},

url = {http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0966636217308949},

doi = {10.1016/j.gaitpost.2017.08.038},

issn = {09666362},

year  = {2017},

date = {2017-01-01},

journal = {Gait \& Posture},

volume = {58},

pages = {386--389},

abstract = {Perturbations are often used to study movement control and balance, especially in the context of falling. Most often, discrete perturbations defined prior to the experiment are used to mimic external disturbances to balance. However, the largest proportion of falls is due to self-generated errors in weight shifting. Inspired by self-generated weight shifting errors, we created a novel, continuous mediolateral perturbation proportional to subjects' mediolateral center of mass movement with minimal delays. This perturbation was delivered by a robotic platform controlled by a real time Matlab Simulink model using kinematic data from a marker positioned at subjects' L5 as input. Fifteen healthy young adults stood as still as possible atop the robotic platform with their eyes closed. We evaluated the performance of the perturbation in terms of accuracy and delay relative to the input signal by using cross-correlations. The perturbations were accurate (r = −0.984), with delays of 154 ms. Such systematic perturbation significantly affected mediolateral sway, increasing its range (from 5.56 ± 3.72 to 9.58 ± 4.83 mm},

keywords = {Human Motor Control, Postural Balance, Robot Design},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Babic2009,

title = {A Biarticulated Robotic Leg for Jumping Movements: Theory and Experiments},

author = {Jan Babi\v{c} and Bokman Lim and Damir Omr\v{c}en and Jadran Lenar\v{c}i\v{c} and Frank C Park},

url = {http://mechanismsrobotics.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/article.aspx?articleid=1484860},

doi = {10.1115/1.2963028},

issn = {19424302},

year  = {2009},

date = {2009-01-01},

journal = {Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics},

volume = {1},

number = {1},

pages = {011013},

abstract = {This paper investigates the extent to which biarticular actuation mechanisms\textemdashspring-driven redundant actuation schemes that extend over two joints, similar in function to biarticular muscles found in legged animals\textemdashimprove the performance of jumping and other fast explosive robot movements. Robust numerical optimization algorithms that take into account the complex dynamics of both the redundantly actuated system and frictional contact forces are developed. We then quantitatively evaluate the gains in vertical jumping vis-\`{a}-vis monoarticular and biarticular joint actuation schemes and examine the effects of spring stiffness and activation angle on overall jump performance. Both numerical simulations and experiments with a hardware prototype of a biarticular legged robot are reported.},

keywords = {Biarticular Muscle, Dynamic Motion, Robot Design},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Babic2006,

title = {Optimization of biarticular gastrocnemious muscle in humanoid jumping robot simulation},

author = {Jan Babi\v{c} and Jadran Lenar\v{c}i\v{c}},

url = {http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0219843606000722},

doi = {10.1142/S0219843606000722},

issn = {0219-8436},

year  = {2006},

date = {2006-01-01},

journal = {International Journal of Humanoid Robotics},

volume = {3},

number = {2},

pages = {219--234},

abstract = {We propose a new human inspired structure of the lower extremity mechanism by which a humanoid robot will be able to efficiently perform fast movements such as running and jumping. We build a dynamic model of the humanoid robot which includes an elastic model of the biarticular muscle gastrocnemius and determine the role of the biarticular muscles and the elastic tendons in performing the vertical jump. We demonstrate that biarticular links contribute a great deal to the performance of the vertical jump. We also show that timing of the biarticular link activation and stiffness of the biarticular link influence the height of the jump considerably.},

keywords = {Biarticular Muscle, Dynamic Motion, Robot Design},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}