Gait Trajectory and Gait Phase Prediction Based on an LSTM Network

•  Lower body segment trajectory and gait phase prediction is crucial for the control of assistance-as-needed robotic devices, such as exoskeletons. In order for a powered exoskeleton with phase-based control to determine and provide proper assistance to the wearer during gait, we propose an approach to predict segment trajectories up to 200 ms ahead (angular velocity of the thigh, shank, and foot segments) and five gait phases (loading response, mid-stance, terminal stance, preswing, and swing), based on collected data from inertial measurement units placed on the thighs, shanks, and feet. The approach we propose is a long-short term memory (LSTM)-based network, a modified version of recurrent neural networks, which can learn order dependence in sequence prediction problems. The algorithm proposed has a weighted discount loss function that places more weight in predicting the next three to five time frames but also contributes to an overall prediction performance for up to 10 time frames. The LSTM model was designed to learn lower limb segment trajectories using training samples and was tested for generalization across participants. All predicted trajectories were strongly correlated with the measured trajectories, with correlation coefficients greater than 0.98. The proposed LSTM approach can also accurately predict the five gait phases, particularly the swing phase with 95% accuracy in inter-subject implementation. The ability of the LSTMnetwork to predict future gait trajectories and gait phases can be applied in designing exoskeleton controllers that can better compensate for system delays to smooth the transition between gait phases. 

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Annan maskinteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Other Mechanical Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

multi-step forecasting; gait segmentation; lower limb angular velocity; machine learning; deep learning

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)