Hybrid position/force output feedback second-order sliding mode control for a prototype of an active orthosis used in back-assisted mobilization

This article shows the design of a robust second-order sliding mode controller to solve the trajectory tracking problem of an active orthosis for assisting back physiotherapies. The orthosis was designed in agreement with morphological dimensions and its articulations distribution followed the same designing rules. The orthosis has six articulated arms attached to an articulated column. The orthosis was fully instrumented with actuators and position sensors at each articulation. The controller implemented a class of hybrid/position controller depending on the relative force exerted by the patient and the orthosis movement. The position information provided by each articulation was supplied to a distributed super-twisting differentiator to recover the corresponding angular velocity. A set of twisting controllers was implemented to regulate the position of the robot in agreement to predefined reference trajectories. Reference trajectories were obtained from a biomechanical-based analysis. The hybrid tracking control problem solved the automation of the assisted therapy to the patient, including the force feedback. The performance of the orthosis was tested with different dummy bodies with different resistance. The robust output feedback controller successfully tracked the reference trajectories despite the material of the dummy used during the testing. The orthosis was evaluated with two volunteers using a simple reference trajectory. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].