Patent ID: 8736087

Claim:
An apparatus for harvesting energy from motion of a human or animal body segment, the apparatus comprising: a generator operatively coupled to the body segment such that particular movement of the body segment causes the generator to output a generator current and to oppose the particular movement of the body segment with a generator torque; an electrical load coupled to receive the generator current; a control system operatively connected between the generator and the electrical load, the control system configured to control the generator torque during the particular movement of the body segment to track a torque control signal, the torque control signal representative of a desired generator torque; wherein the control system is connected to receive one or more feedback inputs and is configured to control the generator torque based at least in part on the one or more feedback inputs; and wherein the control system is configured to use the one or more feedback inputs to estimate one or more body segment feedback inputs which are representative of one or more corresponding aspects of movement of the body segment.