Lower extremity amputees face challenges in natural locomotion, which is partially compensated using powered assistive systems, e.g., micro-processor controlled prosthetic leg. In this paper, a radar-based perception system is proposed to assist prosthetic legs for autonomous obstacle traversing, focusing on multiple-step staircases. The presented perception system is composed of a radar module operating with a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) configuration to localize consecutive stair corners. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) is integrated for coordinates correction due to the angular dis-positioning that occurs because of the knee angular motion. The captured information from both sensors is used for staircase dimensioning (depth and height). A shallow neural network (NN) is proposed to model the error due to the hardware limitations and enhance the dimension estimation accuracy (1 cm). The algorithm is implemented on a microcontroller subsystem of the radar kit to qualify the perception system for embedded integration in powered prosthetic legs.
@article{arxiv.2105.14634,
title = {DimRad: A Radar-Based Perception System for Prosthetic Leg Barrier Traversing},
author = {Fady Aziz and Bassam Elmakhzangy and Christophe Maufroy and Urs Schneider and Marco F. Huber},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2105.14634},
year = {2021}
}