DE102012103972A1 - Method for carrying out test with test prosthesis for injured leg of patient, involves connecting adapter device to actuator device such that forces and movements are exerted on adapter device to simulate behavior of to-be-tested prosthesis - Google Patents

Abstract

The method involves connecting an adapter device (8) of a test prosthesis (2) with an object (5) such that the object performs a movement sequence with the test prosthesis. The adapter device is connected with a controllable actuator device (1) i.e. hexapod, such that forces and/or movements are exerted on the adapter device by the actuator device in order to simulate behavior of a to-be-tested prosthesis. The movement sequence produced by the object is detected by a sensor device. The actuator device is operated depending on measurement values of the sensor device. The sensor device is designed as an optical image capture device. An independent claim is also included for a device for carrying out tests with a test prosthesis for an injured body extremity of an object.

Description

The invention relates to a method for carrying out tests with a test prosthesis for a damaged body extremity of a subject, wherein the test prosthesis has an adapter device which can be connected to the subject, and wherein the test person carries out a sequence of movements with the test prosthesis.

In recent years prostheses of body extremities, and in particular mechanical leg prostheses, for example, have been further developed through the use of novel materials and through the integration of mechatronic systems and drives. Significant improvements in biomechanical properties have been achieved so that their acceptance among users has increased significantly. Different prosthesis systems assist a user by advantageously adjusting the stiffness and damping values of the prosthetic mechanics. At present, active prostheses having a driven or drive-supported prosthetic joint are the subject of research and development.

Dealing with a prosthesis or its handling and use must first be learned by a user. After some time of familiarization, the use of the prosthesis for the user should no longer require conscious control or activation and, if possible, the prosthesis should no longer be perceived as an artificial replacement of a damaged part of the body.

There is still a great demand for further developments of the known prosthesis systems. In this case, for example, the flexibility of the movements are to be increased in particular as for example intended by the user direction and speed change in the movement, as reliable as possible support the movements for example when climbing stairs and an extension of the operating time in driven prosthesis systems are made possible. Further focal points of development concern the most natural movement sequences of a prosthesis.

Newly developed prostheses are usually used to produce prototypes. These prototypes are tested with and by subjects in order to check their basic suitability and their acceptance by the subjects. To do this, the test persons use the prototypes of the newly developed prostheses to carry out various movements in order to be able to test and check the properties and the perception of the prostheses during the implementation of realistic movement sequences. In prosthesis test stands, the prototypes can be examined under laboratory conditions and examined for their functionally relevant properties, stress tests usually being carried out and sufficient stability and durability being tested and tested.

In addition, various simulators and, in particular, gait simulators are known which can be used, for example, in the rehabilitation of patients and make it easier, or in principle only possible, to train or learn natural movement sequences in an environment that is as realistic as possible. Such gangsimulatoren or gait training facilities are, for example, in DE 100 28 511 A1 or WO 2008/097 134 A2 described.

It has been shown that numerous possibilities are conceivable as to how existing prosthesis systems can be modified and further developed. However, it is often not possible to foresee the actual behavior of a further developed prosthesis system during the use of the prosthesis. In addition, it is often difficult to assess whether the development in question increases the acceptance of the modified prosthetic system among the users. For this reason, it is regularly helpful to perform tests with test persons on prototypes made for this purpose in order to be able to check the behavior of the further developed prosthesis during the execution of typical movement sequences and to determine the perception and acceptance of the further developed prosthesis systems by the prototypes based on the prototype ,

However, it is often only at the end of a development process that it is possible to produce a prototype of a further developed prosthesis and have it tested by test persons. Accordingly, the development process can not be supported and improved by appropriate feedback from the user or subjects until prototypes are produced and used by subjects. The production of a prototype of a prosthesis is also extremely costly, so that only for a few promising advancements newly produced prototypes and tested by testing with subjects.

It has also been shown that novel prosthesis systems could be developed in basic research, for which a constructive implementation and the construction of a prototype with currently available materials and techniques is not yet possible. For such novel prosthesis systems, there is currently no way the functionality of the novel concepts and their acceptance by the user with the help of To support and drive forward realistic tests and meaningful assessments by test persons.

It is therefore considered to be an object of the present invention to design a method for carrying out tests with a test prosthesis in such a way that tests can be carried out with the simplest possible means and cost-effectively with as many different test prostheses as possible.

This object is achieved by a method of the type mentioned, in which the adapter device of the test prosthesis is connected to a controllable actuator device and the actuator device forces and / or moments are exerted on the adapter device to simulate the behavior of a prosthesis to be tested. The test prosthesis needed and used for this procedure must only have an adapter device that can be connected to the subject. For leg prostheses suitable adapter devices are already known in practice, which can be fixed to the stump of the subject and have a usually conical pyramid adapter to which the functional components of the prosthesis can be attached. The test prosthesis consists only of this adapter device. The properties of the functional components of the prosthesis or of the no longer required prototype are simulated by the actuator device, which is connected to the adapter device and exerts forces and / or moments on the adapter device and thus on the test person.

In contrast to the currently known test methods, it is not necessary to produce prototypes for the evolved prostheses to be tested and to use them for carrying out the tests. During the course of a movement, virtually any forces and / or moments can be exerted on the adapter device and thus on the subjects connected to the adapter device via the actuator device. The forces and / or moments exerted on the test subjects can simulate and simulate the behavior of a prototype of a novel prosthesis system, so that the test person perceives the behavior and the sensory feedback of an actually non-existent prototype of a further developed prosthesis.

With the actuator device, forces and moments can also be exerted on the adapter device and thus on the subjects, which correspond to the behavior and the sensory feedback of prosthesis systems that can not be produced as a prototype with the currently available materials and components.

The actuator device expediently allows a 5-dimensional or 6-dimensional movement of the adapter device, which is connected to the subject. In order to be able to simulate the motion sequence with the test prosthesis in a realistic manner, the actuator device should be suitable for being able to transmit sufficiently large forces and / or moments to the adapter device. The structural design of the actuator device can be completely different and adapted to the particular requirements in each case, or be designed with regard to the test prosthesis to be tested. The actuator device used must only be capable of being able to transmit the forces and moments required for the simulation of the motion sequence with the test prosthesis to the adapter device within the action times predetermined by the motion sequence. A person skilled in the art will know from practice various suitable actuator devices which, if appropriate, can fulfill the requirements required for carrying out this method with slight modifications.

According to a particularly advantageous embodiment of the inventive concept, it is provided that the actuator device is controlled by a control device in which different models of prosthesis for activating the actuator device can be activated. The biomechanical properties of a prosthesis to be tested can be simulated by suitable prosthesis models with the actuator device. By providing and activating different prosthesis models different biomechanical properties and thus different prototypes or prosthesis systems can be simulated. By rapidly switching between different models of prosthesis, a subject can better distinguish their respective characteristics from each other and therefore develop meaningful assessments that allow a better assessment of the acceptance of a further developed prosthesis by the user.

The prosthesis models can be made available, for example, as system-dynamic models or as multi-body models and used to control the actuator device.

In order to improve the control of the controllable actuator device, it is provided that the movement sequence carried out by the test person is detected with a sensor device and the actuator device is actuated in dependence on the measured values of the sensor device. The sensor device can be, for example, an optical image capture device. Depending on the optically detected sequence of movements that is performed by the subject, the actuator device can act on the adapter device and thereby move the adapter device such that a perception is generated in the subject that actually corresponds to that of the subject completed movement corresponds as far as possible. In this case, it is also possible to detect motion sequences of the subject that are not completely or uncommonly performed and to actuate the actuator device accordingly, in order to respond appropriately even in these cases and to simulate the actually performed motion sequence as realistically as possible instead of an ideal sequence of movements.

In order to reduce a disadvantageous influence of the actuator device on the perception by the test person during the execution of a movement sequence, it is provided that the test person during the execution of a movement sequence with the test prosthesis, a visualization of the movement is displayed. Realistic simulation models can be used for the visualization of the motion sequence, for example, which do not show an actuator device and possibly also no test prosthesis but, for example, depict an idealized and uninjured body extremity.

With regard to the most realistic possible visualization, it is intended to use image information from a comparable sequence of movements with an intact body extremity corresponding to the damaged body extremity for the visualization of the movement sequence with the test prosthesis. If the test prosthesis is, for example, a prosthetic leg and a gait or running movement of the test person is to be carried out as a test sequence, the gait image of the test person's intact leg can first be recorded with a suitable imaging sensor device in order to obtain the image information of the intact leg for the visualization of the patient Movement with the test prosthesis to use. In the simplest case, the image information recorded with the intact leg for the visualization of the movement sequence can be spatially mirrored with the test prosthesis and synchronized in time with the movement of the subject with the test prosthesis.

The invention also relates to a device for carrying out tests with a test prosthesis for a damaged body extremity of a subject, the device having a test prosthesis and the test prosthesis having an adapter device for attachment to the subject. According to the invention, it is provided that the adapter device is in operative connection with an actuator device, via which forces and / or moments can be exerted on the adapter device. The test prosthesis consists exclusively of an adapter device which can be connected to the subject, for example a pyramid adapter, which can be fixed to the stump of the subject. By means of the actuator device, forces and moments can be exerted on the adapter device and thus on the subjects connected to it, which simulate in the subject the perception of a prosthesis to be tested or of a nonexistent prototype. The existing from the adapter device test prosthesis must not have functional prosthesis components, since all forces and moments that would occur in a movement with a truly non-existent prototype, can be generated with the actuator device and thereby the unneeded prototype is simulated.

The actuator device used in the device for carrying out tests may be designed differently and based on different principles of operation. A person skilled in the art is familiar with various suitable actuator devices which, if necessary, can transmit to the adapter device the forces and moments required for the simulation of the motion sequence with the test prosthesis, within the action times given by the movement sequence, with slight modifications. Diverse usable actuator devices preferably allow the exercise of forces and moments in any spatial directions. Depending on the requirements of the individual case, the actuator device can have a plurality of drive elements that can image both active and passive motion properties, so that motion sequences supported or achieved by mechanical properties of the simulated prosthesis can be simulated by a separate drive mechanism of the simulated prosthesis.

A suitable actuator device may be, for example, a hexapod. A hexapod enables fast movements in all three spatial directions. In addition, linear movements as well as rotational movements or superimposed linear and rotary movements can be performed in a simple manner.

It is also conceivable that the actuator device is a robot arm or a driven or positively driven link device. In this case, an inverse pendulum construction can be used, which is based on a "virtual pivot point model" of the human gait, if the test prosthesis is a prosthetic leg.

In order to be able to control the actuator device in a suitable manner, it is provided that the device for carrying out tests has a control device. By the control device different movements of the actuator device can be specified and optionally performed repeatedly.

In order to be able to adapt a sequence of movements triggered by the control device and carried out with the actuator device to the motion sequence actually carried out by the subject, it is provided that the device has a sensor device. The sensor device can have, for example, an optical image capture device. The sensor device may instead or additionally comprise travel and time measuring devices. An evaluation of the sensor information acquired with the sensor device should, if possible, be carried out and processed in real time.

According to a particularly advantageous embodiment of the inventive concept, it is provided that the device has a memory device for the retrievable storage of different prosthesis models. In the storage device different models of prostheses can be deposited, which have been prepared and put together in advance. In order to generate the perception of different prosthesis systems in the subject, only the respective prosthesis model needs to be retrieved and activated.

The use of actually existing prototypes of the prosthesis systems in question is not required. It is only necessary to provide and activate the corresponding prosthesis model in the control device so that actuation of the actuator device adapted to the prosthesis model or predefined by the relevant prosthesis model can take place. In this way, different prosthesis models or prosthetic systems can be simulated very quickly in succession and without mechanical retrofitting and checked by the test person for their suitability and acceptance.

By repeatedly changing between a prosthesis model for an existing prosthesis and a prosthesis model for a newly developed prosthesis, the effects of the newly developed components can be specifically tested and compared directly with the already known prosthesis. Such a comparison allows much more objective assessments and the perception of small details by the subjects.

Each model of prosthesis can simulate or simulate the individual biomechanical behavior of a prototype that actually does not exist or a contemplated further development of an existing prosthetic system. In this way, the device according to the invention can also be used to conduct basic research and to investigate newly developed prosthesis systems for which there is currently no possibility of producing a corresponding prototype.

Regardless of whether a suitable prototype could be produced or could not yet be realized with the current materials and components, the cost-effective possibility of continuously checking individual development steps and ideas considerably facilitates the development of new and series-ready prosthesis systems. In addition, developments may also be carried out which, for economic reasons, can not at present or not be carried out comprehensively, provided that the production of prototypes is too costly.

According to one embodiment of the inventive concept, it is provided that the device has a visualization device. The visualization device can be large-scale and capture and cover a large part of the field of vision of the subject. In this way, the influence of the test prosthesis or the actuator device connected to the adapter device on the perception and evaluation by the subject can be reduced.

Hereinafter, some embodiments of the inventive concept will be discussed in more detail, which are illustrated in the drawing. It shows

1 a schematic representation of an apparatus according to the invention for carrying out tests with a test prosthesis for a defective body extremity of a subject, wherein a hexapod is used as an actuator device,

2 a schematic representation of a differently designed device for performing tests with a test prosthesis, wherein a robot arm is used as the actuator device, and

3 a schematic representation of a re-deviating designed device for performing tests with a test prosthesis, wherein an inverse pendulum construction is used as an actuator device.

An in 1 exemplified device 1 for performing tests with a prosthetic leg to be tested as a test prosthesis 2 has a treadmill 3 on that via a control device 4 activated and controlled in its movement. A subject 5 is on the treadmill 3 and is over a safety rack 6 with seat belts 7 secured and supported, so the subject 5 Do not fall or off the treadmill 3 can fall down.

The test prosthesis 2 only has an adapter device 8th on top, with a remaining stump 9 a broken leg 10 of the subject 5 connected is. Such adapter devices 8th are known in the art and are commonly used to facilitate attachment of other functional prosthetic components to the stump 9 of the injured leg 10 of the subject 5 used. The test prosthesis 2 consists according to the invention exclusively of this adapter device 8th , Other components, especially functional components are not required.

The adapter device 8th is in turn with an actuator device 11 in operative connection, which is configured in the embodiment shown as Hexapod. About the actuator device 11 forces and moments are on the adapter device 8th exercised in the subject 5 create a perception that corresponds to the use of an actually absent prosthetic leg. The properties and behavior of the leg prosthesis are simulated by means of a prosthesis model, which is used in a control device 12 for the actuator device 11 is deposited and to control the actuator device 11 is used. By the of the actuator device 11 generated effect of forces and moments on the adapter device 8th becomes the subject 5 simulates the presence of an actually absent prosthetic leg.

In the control device 12 or in a connected, but not shown storage device different prosthesis models can be deposited and for the control of the actuator device 11 activated and used. By the prosthesis model used in each case different biomechanical properties and movement possibilities can be simulated, so that in the subject 5 a physical perception and a realistic feedback is generated, which correspond to the use of the actually absent prosthetic leg.

Laterally next to the subject 5 is looking towards an uninjured leg 13 of the subject 5 a camera 14 set up the pictorial information of the uninjured leg 13 of the subject 5 can record. At the same time, the camera 14 in conjunction with other cameras 15 serve as a sensor device to a movement of the subject 5 with the damaged leg 10 and the adapter device attached thereto 11 capture. The sensor signals and image information of the cameras 14 and 15 can contact the controller 12 transmitted and for controlling the actuator device 11 be used.

In addition, the picture information of the cameras 14 and 15 to a visualization device 16 be transmitted. The visualization device 16 has two large-scale display devices 17 on. On the display devices 17 can exercise sequences of the subject 5 be visualized, with neither the actuator device 11 nor the adapter device 8th are displayed. Instead, the image information of the intact leg 13 after a spatial adaptation and temporal synchronization to display a movement of the subject 5 with a seemingly intact leg in place of the test prosthesis 2 used.

At the in 2 illustrated device 1' for performing tests with a prosthetic leg to be tested as a test prosthesis 2 is the actuator device 11 ' a robotic arm consisting of a serial kinematic chain of links and driven joints.

At the in 3 schematically illustrated device 1'' is the actuator device 11 '' an inverse pendulum construction based on a "virtual pivot point model" of human gait.

For all three exemplified actuator devices 1 . 1' and 1'' For example, elastic properties may be introduced into joints or limbs for safety purposes.

QUOTES INCLUDE IN THE DESCRIPTION

This list of the documents listed by the applicant has been generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Cited patent literature

• DE 10028511 A1 [0006]
• WO 2008/097134 A2 [0006]

Claims (12)

Method for carrying out tests with a test prosthesis ( 2 ) for a damaged body extremity of a subject ( 5 ), the test prosthesis ( 2 ) one with the subject ( 5 ) connectable adapter device ( 8th ) and wherein the subject ( 5 ) with the test prosthesis ( 2 ) performs a movement sequence, characterized in that the adapter device ( 8th ) with a controllable actuator device ( 1 . 1' . 1'' ) and with the actuator device ( 1 . 1' . 1'' ) Forces and / or moments on the adapter device ( 8th ) to simulate the behavior of a prosthesis to be tested. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that with a sensor device of the subject ( 5 ) detected motion sequence and in dependence on the measured values of the sensor device, the actuator device ( 1 . 1' . 1'' ) is pressed. Method according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, characterized in that the actuator device ( 1 . 1' . 1'' ) with a control device ( 12 ) is controlled in the different prosthesis models for controlling the actuator device ( 1 . 1' . 1'' ) can be activated. Method according to the preceding claims, characterized in that the subject ( 5 ) during the execution of a movement sequence with the test prosthesis ( 2 ) a visualization of the movement is displayed. A method according to claim 4, characterized in that for the visualization of the movement sequence with the test prosthesis ( 2 ) Image information of a comparable movement sequence with one of the damaged body extremities ( 10 ) corresponding intact body extremity ( 13 ) of the subject ( 5 ) be used. Contraption ( 1 . 1' . 1'' ) for carrying out tests with a test prosthesis ( 2 ) for a damaged body extremity ( 10 ) of a subject ( 5 ) with a test prosthesis ( 2 ), the test prosthesis ( 2 ) an adapter device ( 8th ) for attachment to the subject ( 5 ), characterized in that the adapter device ( 8th ) with an actuator device ( 1 . 1' . 1'' ) is in operative connection, via the forces and / or moments on the adapter device ( 8th ) can be exercised to simulate the behavior of a prosthesis to be tested. Contraption ( 1 ) according to claim 6, characterized in that the actuator device ( 1 ) is a hexapod. Contraption ( 1' ) according to claim 6, characterized in that the actuator device ( 1' ) has a controllable robotic arm. Contraption ( 1 . 1' . 1'' ) according to one of the preceding claims 8-6, characterized in that the device ( 1 . 1' . 1'' ) has a control device. Contraption ( 1 . 1' . 1'' ) according to one of claims 6 to 9, characterized in that the device ( 1 . 1' . 1'' ) has a sensor device. Contraption ( 1 . 1' . 1'' ) according to one of claims 6 to 10, characterized in that the device ( 1 . 1' . 1'' ) comprises memory means for retrievably storing various prosthesis models. Contraption ( 1 . 1' . 1'' ) according to one of claims 6 to 11, characterized in that the device ( 1 . 1' . 1'' ) a visualization device ( 16 ) having.

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