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A Control Software Framework for Wearable Mechatronic Devices

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Abstract

The rapid growth of wearable mechatronic devices for motion assistance applications has created a demand for tools that assist with control software development. The wearable mechatronics-enabled control software (WearMECS) framework is proposed as a software development tool for the control systems of these devices. The WearMECS framework was developed to support both software design and implementation. Control software has been developed using the framework that supports various motion tasks, control system models, and wearable mechatronic devices. In this research, the control systems developed with the framework have resulted in some of the lowest elbow motion tracking errors in the literature. The framework has also helped to increase the efficiency of experimental evaluations and the comparison of control components. The versatility of the WearMECS framework provides control system developers with a foundation to build upon, while maintaining their creative freedom. This framework provides a platform that supports the continued growth and improvement of control systems for wearable assistive devices.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Anastasiia Kyrylova, Myles Lidka, Abelardo Escoto, Yue Zhou, Joan Lobo-Prat, and Arno Stienen for collaborating on the developement and testing of the control systems and devices used in the experiments. The authors would also like to thank Michael Naish for lending equipment that was used in the experiments and Shrikant Chinchalkar for providing insights into upper limb rehabilitation. Funding for this research was provided by Western Strategic Support for NSERC Success Grant and the Academic Development Fund, Western University, by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada under grant RGPIN-2014-03815, and by the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Employment, and the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation through the Early Researcher Award. Partial funding for Dr. Desplenter was provided by the Ontario Graduate Scholarship and the Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada

    T. Desplenter

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and School of Biomedical Engineering, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada

    A. L. Trejos

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  1. T. Desplenter
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Correspondence to A. L. Trejos.

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Open-source Release

The WearMECS framework has been released an open-source software project and can be found in [41]. A portion of the control software used in these experiments are included within the open-source repository. The framework definitions and example control application, including one with a graphical user interface, are available from the open-source repository.

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Desplenter, T., Trejos, A.L. A Control Software Framework for Wearable Mechatronic Devices. J Intell Robot Syst 99, 757–771 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-019-01144-5

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