A bio-inspired test system for bionic above-knee prosthetic knees

Recently, prosthetic knees in the developing stage are usually tested by installing them on amputees’ stumps directly or on above-knee prostheses (AKPs) test platforms. Although amputees can fully provide the actual motion state of the thigh, immature prosthetic knees may hurt amputees. For AKPs test platforms, it just can partly simulate the actual motion state of the thigh with limitation of the motion curve of the thigh, the merits or demerits of newly developed bionic above-knee prosthetic knees cannot be accessed thoroughly. Aiming at the defects of two testing methods, this paper presents a bio-inspired AKPs test system for bionic above-knee prosthetic knees. The proposed bio-inspired AKPs test system is composed of a AKPs test platform, a control system, and a bio-inspired system. The AKPs test platform generates the motion of the thigh simulation mechanism (TSM) via two screw pairs with servo motors. The bio-inspired system includes the tester and the bio-inspired sensor wore by the tester. The control system, which is inspired by the bio-inspired system, generates the control command signal to move the TSM of the AKPs test platform. The bio-inspired AKPs test system is developed and experimentally tested with a commercially available prosthetic knee. The research results show that the bio-inspired AKPs test system can not only ensure the safety of the testers, but also track all kinds of the actual motion state of the thigh of the testers in real time.