A virtual reality experimental setup to explore volitional control in lower limb prostheses

Matthias Voß, Philipp Beckerle, Marie Quellhorst

Abstract: Active leg prostheses can provide individuals withan amputation with motion support and thereby enable betterparticipation in societal life. However, their versatility of useis still constrained, particularly with respect to volitional con-trol by the user. Promising volitional control methods like em-ploying muscle and joint model simulations to mimic humanmotor control are actively researched. However, experimentalparadigms currently either include costly hardware setups orare limited to very simplistic virtual setups. For rapid controlprototyping and facilitating the involvement of healthy partic-ipants, we propose an immersive virtual reality environment,focusing on ankle prostheses. Based on a theoretical discus-sion and a pilot study, we outline the potential of this methodfor agile development of lower limb volitional controllers.