Patent ID: 11945107
Assignee: ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS ON BEHALF OF NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC B  A | IPC A  B

Claim 0:
1. A method of applying assistive force to a joint of a user wearing an orthosis, comprising:
receiving a force measurement from a pressure sensor, wherein the pressure sensor is configured to measure a force applied by a body part of the user, to produce a force measurement value;
determining, from the force measurement value, a measured torque applied by the body part of the user;
determining, based on the measured torque, a desired assistive torque value;
determining an estimated joint angular velocity;
determining an actuator drive parameter based on the desired assistive torque value and the estimated joint angular velocity; and
supplying the determined actuator drive parameter to an actuator to cause the actuator to apply a force to the orthosis to generate a torque force across the joint wherein determining the actuator drive parameter based on the desired assistive torque value comprises determining a level of current supplied to the actuator connected to provide the force to the orthosis to generate the assistive torque across the joint,
wherein determining the level of current supplied to the actuator comprises applying predetermined linear coefficients to the desired assistive torque value and the estimated joint angular velocity, and
wherein applying the predetermined linear coefficients to the desired assistive torque value and the estimated joint angular velocity comprises applying a predetermined first scale factor to the desired assistive torque, applying a second predetermined scale factor to the estimated joint angular velocity, applying a third predetermined scale factor to the product of the desired assistive torque and the estimated joint angular velocity, and applying a predetermined offset.