FES-induced co-activation of antagonist muscles for upper limb control and disturbance rejection

Control systems for human movement based on Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) have shown to provide excellent performance in different experimental setups. Nevertheless, there is still a limited number of such applications available today on worldwide markets, indicating poor performance in real settings, particularly for upper limb rehabilitation and assistance. Based on these premises, in this paper we explore the use of an alternative control strategy based on co-activation of antagonist muscles using FES. Although co-contraction may accelerate fatigue when compared to single-muscle activation, knowledge from motor control indicate it may be useful for some applications. We have performed a simulation and experimental study designed to evaluate whether controllers that integrate such features can modulate joint impedance and, by doing so, improving performance with respect to disturbance rejection. The simulation results, obtained using a novel model including proprioceptive feedback and anatomical data, indicate that both stiffness and damping components of joint impedance may be modulated by using FES-induced co-activation of antagonist muscles. Preliminary experimental trials were conducted on four healthy subjects using surface electrodes. While the simulation investigation predicted a maximum 494% increase in joint stiffness for wrist flexion/extension, experiments provided an average elbow stiffness increase of 138% using lower stimulation intensity. Closed-loop experiments in which disturbances were applied have demonstrated that improved behavior may be obtained, but increased joint stiffness and other issues related to simultaneous stimulation of antagonist muscles may indeed produce greater errors.