Robust adaptive backstepping control for a lower-limb exoskeleton system with model uncertainties and external disturbances

The main purpose of this work is to design a robust adaptive backstepping (RABS) control strategy for a pediatric exoskeleton system during passive-assist gait rehabilitation. The nonlinear dynamics of the exoskeleton system have ill-effects of uncertain parameters and external interferences. In this work, the designed robust control strategy is applied on the exoskeleton to assist children of 08–12 years, 25–40 kg weight, and 115–125 cm height. The dynamic model of the coupled human-exoskeleton system is established using the Euler–Lagrange principle. An appropriate Lyapunov function is selected to prove the uniform boundedness of the control signals. The “explosion of terms” is avoided by establishing a virtual control law without the dynamical system parameters. A Microsoft Kinect-LabVIEW experiment is carried out to estimate the desired gait trajectory. The robustness of the proposed control is validated by varying the limb segment masses and inducing the periodic external disturbances. The proposed control strategy is compared with the decentralized modified simple adaptive-PD (DMSA-PD) control strategy. From simulation results and performance improvement index, it is observed that RABS control outperforms the contrast control (DMSA-PD) to track the desired gait during passive-assist rehabilitation under the effect of model uncertainties and external disturbances.