Advanced Locomotion Control of Exoskeleton Systems: The Role of Active and Passive Compliance
by Barkan Uğurlu
(Özyeğin University, Department of Mechanical Engineering)
DATE : October 26, 2018 (Friday)
TIME : 14:00-15:00
ROOM : VYKM 2
Abstract:
The exoskeleton market is exponentially growing as its market size is estimated to surpass 3.4 billion USD by 2024. Likewise, R&D activities for wearable robots and exoskeletons show a significant increase. These systems are increasingly playing an important role in robot-aided walking support, elderly care, and SCI rehabilitation. Since these systems are in physical contact with humans, adjustable physical compliance, transparency and high fidelity control techniques are of importance to shape the next-gen exoskeletons of tomorrow. With this view in mind, the first segment of my talk will succinctly address my earlier research regarding the legged locomotion control of humanoids and quadrupeds. In the second segment of my talk, I will share my hands-on experiences on two different exoskeleton systems: i) TTI-Exo, a whole body exoskeleton built in Toyota Technological Institute, Japan, ii) XoR, the first self-balancing lower limb exoskeleton with adjustable physical compliance and active disturbance rejection capability, built at the Dept. of Brain-Robot Interface, CNS-ATR, Japan. I will emphasize how the prior hands-on experience on legged locomotion enabled me to create exoskeleton systems that have distinguishable characteristics from the others. The third segment of my talk will disclose my vision concerning the next-generation exoskeleton robots and a roadmap to realistically develop such systems.
Short Biography:
Barkan Ugurlu received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Japan, in March 2010. From May 2010 to March 2013, he was a Post-Doctoral Researcher, at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy, and Toyota Technological Institute, Nagoya, Japan. Between March 2013 and February 2015, he was a Research Scientist at the Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR), Kyoto, Japan. He currently holds an Asst. Prof. position at the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Ozyegin University, Istanbul, Turkey. His research interests include active orthoses and exoskeletons, robot-aided rehabilitation, humanoid/quadruped locomotion control, and human-centered manipulation. He is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow.
