Control of Powered Ankle-Foot Prostheses on Compliant Terrain: A Quantitative Approach to Stability Enhancement

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Karakasis, Chrysostomos, Scully, Camryn, Salati, Robert, Artemiadis, Panagiotis
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Karakasis, Chrysostomos
Scully, Camryn
Salati, Robert
Artemiadis, Panagiotis
author_facet Karakasis, Chrysostomos
Scully, Camryn
Salati, Robert
Artemiadis, Panagiotis
contents Walking on compliant terrain presents a substantial challenge for individuals with lower-limb amputation, further elevating their already high risk of falling. While powered ankle-foot prostheses have demonstrated adaptability across speeds and rigid terrains, control strategies optimized for soft or compliant surfaces remain underexplored. This work experimentally validates an admittance-based control strategy that dynamically adjusts the quasi-stiffness of powered prostheses to enhance gait stability on compliant ground. Human subject experiments were conducted with three healthy individuals walking on two bilaterally compliant surfaces with ground stiffness values of 63 and 25 kN/m, representative of real-world soft environments. Controller performance was quantified using phase portraits and two walking stability metrics, offering a direct assessment of fall risk. Compared to a standard phase-variable controller developed for rigid terrain, the proposed admittance controller consistently improved gait stability across all compliant conditions. These results demonstrate the potential of adaptive, stability-aware prosthesis control to reduce fall risk in real-world environments and advance the robustness of human-prosthesis interaction in rehabilitation robotics.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_06896
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Control of Powered Ankle-Foot Prostheses on Compliant Terrain: A Quantitative Approach to Stability Enhancement
Karakasis, Chrysostomos
Scully, Camryn
Salati, Robert
Artemiadis, Panagiotis
Robotics
Systems and Control
Walking on compliant terrain presents a substantial challenge for individuals with lower-limb amputation, further elevating their already high risk of falling. While powered ankle-foot prostheses have demonstrated adaptability across speeds and rigid terrains, control strategies optimized for soft or compliant surfaces remain underexplored. This work experimentally validates an admittance-based control strategy that dynamically adjusts the quasi-stiffness of powered prostheses to enhance gait stability on compliant ground. Human subject experiments were conducted with three healthy individuals walking on two bilaterally compliant surfaces with ground stiffness values of 63 and 25 kN/m, representative of real-world soft environments. Controller performance was quantified using phase portraits and two walking stability metrics, offering a direct assessment of fall risk. Compared to a standard phase-variable controller developed for rigid terrain, the proposed admittance controller consistently improved gait stability across all compliant conditions. These results demonstrate the potential of adaptive, stability-aware prosthesis control to reduce fall risk in real-world environments and advance the robustness of human-prosthesis interaction in rehabilitation robotics.
title Control of Powered Ankle-Foot Prostheses on Compliant Terrain: A Quantitative Approach to Stability Enhancement
topic Robotics
Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.06896