WPAL for Human Power Assist during Walking Using Pseudo-compliance Control

The walking power assist leg (WPAL) is designed for normal human power augmentation during walking. WPAL tackles three fundamental problems. First, the architectural design is studied using ergonomics. Second, WPAL must understand the user motion intention. Then, the control algorithm is also investigated. In order to make WPAL work smoothly and provide power assist for user, we proposed a method based on multi-sensor data fusion to understand the user motion intention. And, a control method of pseudo-compliance is also proposed. We can adjust the coefficient of mass, damp and spring to change power assist supply for user during walking. Correlative experimental result shows the effectiveness of the control method.