Abstract
This paper describes an open-source software architecture that allows an exoskeleton to be remotely used for rehabilitation purposes. The exoskeleton can be controlled through a Natural User Interface (NUI), which directly records the therapist’s legs motion, from which, the input references that should be sent to the exoskeleton are calculated. The proposed architecture consists of a set of interconnected components, running independently, which use a middleware for transparently sharing information. In particular, a set of software components, executed as ROS nodes, solve the problems related to hardware issues and control strategies. An early prototype of the system has been tested and results are shown in this paper, together with a discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of the system.
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Acknowledgements
The engineer Jesús Damián Blasco deserves a special mention in this work for his support in several technical aspects. This article is the result of the activity carried out under the “Research Programme for Groups of Scientific Excellence at Region of Murcia” of the Seneca Foundation (Agency for Science and Technology of the Region of Murcia – 19895/GERM/15).
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Pavón-Pulido, N., López-Riquelme, J.A., Feliú-Batlle, J.J. (2019). Intelligent Control of an Exoskeleton for Rehabilitation Purposes Using a ROS-Based Software Architecture. In: Moura Oliveira, P., Novais, P., Reis, L. (eds) Progress in Artificial Intelligence. EPIA 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11804. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30241-2_30
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