Estimation of Knee Angles Based on Thigh Motion: A Functional Approach and Implications for High-Level Controlling of Active Prosthetic Knees
Mahdy Eslamy, Felix Oswald, Arndt F. Schilling
Abstract
Human locomotion is the result of complex neuromusculoskeletal cooperation between different joints and limbs of the lower extremities. This collaboration (also called synergy [1]) results in an energyefficient gait. Unfortunately, for an above-knee amputee, this cooperation is lost since current prosthetic devices do not emulate the missing functionality in a manner similar to their biological counterparts. Transfemoral amputees can select between passive (Mauch knee [2]), semi-active (Ottobock's C-leg [3] and Ossur's rheo knee [4]), and active prosthetic devices (Ossur's power knee [5]). What distinguishes the active ones from the other two is the injection of positive power for activities such as ascending stairs and standing up from a chair.