Hybrid exoskeletons are a recent development which combine Functional Electrical Stimulation with actuators to improve both the mental and physical rehabilitation of stroke patients. Hybrid exoskeletons have been shown capable of reducing the weight of the actuator and improving movement precision compared to Functional Electrical Stimulation alone. However little attention has been given towards the ability of hybrid exoskeletons to reduce and manage Functional Electrical Stimulation induced fatigue or towards adapting to user ability. This work details the construction and testing of a novel assist-as-need upper-extremity hybrid exoskeleton which uses model-based Functional Electrical Stimulation control to delay Functional Electrical Stimulation induced muscle fatigue. The hybrid control is compared with Functional Electrical Stimulation only control on a healthy subject. The hybrid system produced 24° less average angle error and 13.2° less Root Mean Square Error, than Functional Electrical Stimulation on its own and showed a reduction in Functional Electrical Stimulation induced fatigue. As far as the authors are aware, this is the study which provides evidence of the advantages of hybrid exoskeletons compared to use of Functional Electrical Stimulation on its own with regards to the delay of Functional Electrical Stimulation induced muscle fatigue.

中文翻译：

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一种便携式按需辅助上肢混合外骨骼，用于减少 FES 引起的中风康复中的肌肉疲劳。

混合外骨骼是最近的一项发展，它将功能性电刺激与执行器相结合，以改善中风患者的心理和身体康复。与单独的功能性电刺激相比，混合外骨骼已被证明能够减轻执行器的重量并提高运动精度。然而，很少有人关注混合外骨骼减少和管理功能性电刺激引起的疲劳或适应用户能力的能力。这项工作详细介绍了一种新型按需辅助上肢混合外骨骼的构建和测试，该外骨骼使用基于模型的功能性电刺激控制来延迟功能性电刺激引起的肌肉疲劳。将混合控制与仅针对健康受试者的功能性电刺激控制进行比较。与单独的功能性电刺激相比，混合系统产生的平均角度误差减少 24°，均方根误差减少 13.2°，并显示功能性电刺激引起的疲劳减少。据作者所知，这项研究提供了混合外骨骼与单独使用功能性电刺激相比在延迟功能性电刺激引起的肌肉疲劳方面的优势的证据。