# Automated and Controlled System for Analysis of Residual Limbs Thermograms of Transtibial Amputees
## 5 Conclusions  
This paper presents the design of an automatic system to capture thermal pictures of the residual limbs of amputees. The motivation of such a device is to aid in the thermal image acquisition process within a confined space. The thermograms generated provide helpful information for analyzing the residual human limb in subjects with transtibial amputation. Such a study proposes a non-intrusive method to study the thermal activity on the amputee's residual limb and seek a correlation to the quality of the socket. The proposed cabin ensures the repeatability of the thermograms acquisition process and provides an isolated workspace, thus, improving the quality of the samples. The methodology consists of the design of the mechanical elements and parts of the system on computer-aided design software, the electronic instrumentation, a graphic user interface (GUI), and the control algorithm based on a barrier Lyapunov function to solve the trajectory tracking for the camera movements, and numerical simulations to illustrate the functionality and the manufacture of a prototype. The GUI was designed to operate the device and store and analyze the obtained data. The results obtained by implementing the control design on the automated cabin reveal that the thermal image acquisition process is completed following the desired trajectory with a mean squared tracking error of 0.0052. With this result, it is evident that the algorithm successfully solved the tracking trajectory problem, allowing the mobile platform to follow a smooth path with a maximum error setting, and it did not need the exact value of the system parameters. In addition, an example of the thermal images of two subjects and the results of processing this class of pictures using the designed interface is shown. In further research, the system will be used in a clinical protocol to compare different sockets.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l l} \hline \hline
**View** & **L** & **F** & **M** & **I** & **P** \\ \hline
**Average Temperature \({}^{\circ}\)C** & 29.8 & 30.2 & 30.3 & 32.8 & 32.7 \\ \hline
**Standard Deviation** & 1.1 & 1.0 & 0.7 & 1.3 & 1.4 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 4: Thermographic images analysis: Participant 1 after 10 min walk.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l l} \hline \hline
**View** & **L** & **F** & **M** & **I** & **P** \\ \hline
**Average Temperature \({}^{\circ}\)C** & 31.8 & 31.5 & 31.3 & 30.7 & 31.2 \\ \hline
**Standard Deviation** & 1.3 & 1.5 & 1.4 & 1.0 & 1.8 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 3: Thermographic image analysis: Participant 2 arriving at laboratory.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l l} \hline \hline
**View** & **L** & **F** & **M** & **I** & **P** \\ \hline
**Average Temperature \({}^{\circ}\)C** & 31.9 & 30.9 & 31.4 & 30.8 & 31.4 \\ \hline
**Standard Deviation** & 1.5 & 1.3 & 1.7 & 0.9 & 1.7 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 5: Thermographic images analysis: Participant 2 after 10 min walk.  
**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, R.Q.F.-A.; Data curation, P.E.C.-S.; Formal analysis, M.B.; Investigation, B.A.; Methodology, M.A.L.-P.; Project administration, J.C.H.; Supervision, M.B.; Writing--original draft, R.Q.F.-A. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
**Funding:** This research received no external funding.  
**Acknowledgments:** The authors thank the financial support provided by GEE Robotica and the School of Engineering and Sciences, Tecnologico de Monterrey. The authors acknowledge the financial support from an alumni family of Tecnologico de Monterrey that helped in the development of this project and made possible the [PERSON] Visiting Professorship in Biomechatronics. [PERSON] thanks the Instituto Politecnico Nacional for the support provided by the grants SIP20221151 and SIP20220916.  
**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.