Simulation and Control of Human Arm Powered by Exoskeleton using OpenSim - MATLAB Application Programming Interface

Exoskeletons are a kind of wearable robot with complexity of Human-Machine Interface in control of them. Exoskeletons combine human intelligence and machine power. Control of an exoskeleton with human in loop is an essential issue in development of them. This study addresses to simulate and control of an exoskeleton for the upper limbs using the OpenSim application programming interface (API) in MATLAB. Musculoskeletal model arm۲۶ of OpenSim equipped by a ۲-link exoskeleton is considered as the system should be controlled. The elbow flexion is considered as the desired motion which performed by human assisted by exoskeleton. Moreover, the level muscles excitation is predefined to determine the ability of user in motion. Then, a PID controller designed in MATLAB provides the torque control signal applied to motor. The results show that the controller is able to perform the desired motion against different external forces