Safety monitoring and control system and methods for a legged mobility exoskeleton device

1. A method of controlling a mobility device including at least one drive component that drives at least one joint component, the control method comprising the steps of:

providing said mobility device, said mobility device further including an electronic controller for controlling operation of the at least one drive component to selectively control the at least one joint component;

storing, within said electronic controller, a control application to be executed by the electronic controller;

providing, on said mobility device, a plurality of sensors to detect a state of the at least one drive component and/or the at least one joint component;

providing, on said mobility device, a plurality of electronic indicators; and

wherein the electronic controller executes the control application to perform the steps of:

receiving sensor information from the sensors corresponding to operation of the mobility device;

analyzing the sensor information and determining a control mode of operation based on the sensor information;

generating a control signal to control the electronic indicators to output a visual alert that is visible to a user of the mobility device, the visual alert corresponding to the determined control mode of operation; and

controlling the at least one drive component of the mobility device to selectively control the at least one joint component in accordance with the determined control mode of operation;

wherein when the electronic controller determines that the control mode of operation is a device alerts control mode, the electronic controller further executes the control application to perform the steps of:

receiving the sensor information from the sensors corresponding to the operation of the mobility device and further corresponding to a safety alert condition regarding said operation of the mobility device, the safety alert condition comprising a condition corresponding to a hazard as to which the user of the mobility device may not be aware and as to which the user can perform a specific action to resolve the safety alert condition in response to an alert of the safety alert condition;

categorizing the safety alert condition by a degree of severity of the hazard;

controlling the electronic indicators to output the visual alert to indicate the degree of severity of the safety alert condition; and

controlling the mobility device in accordance with the degree of severity, by controlling an amount of torque applied by the drive component to the at least one joint component and the amount of torque is based upon the degree of severity;

wherein:

when the electronic controller categorizes the safety alert condition as a first level safety alert condition having a first degree of severity of the hazard, the electronic controller controls the at least one drive component to drive the at least one joint component in accordance with one or more modes of sitting, standing, walking, and transitions between modes of sitting, standing, or walking, else the plurality of sensors continue to detect the state of the at least one drive component and/or the at least one joint component; and

when the electronic controller categorizes the safety alert condition to have a second degree of severity of the hazard greater than the first degree of severity corresponding to a medium level safety alert condition, the electronic controller controls the at least one drive component to drive the at least one joint component to limit torque to the at least one joint component so as to limit transitions between standing, walking, and sitting, else the plurality of sensors continue to detect the state of the at least one drive component and/or the at least one joint component.

2. The control method of claim 1 , wherein when the electronic controller determines that the control mode of operation is a device standby control mode, the electronic controller further executes the control application to perform the steps of:

receiving the sensor information from the sensors and determining whether the mobility device is in a standby state that prevents transitions between mobility modes, the mobility modes including standing, walking, and sitting, or an active state that permits transitions between mobility modes;

controlling the electronic indicators to output the visual alert that is visible to the user of the mobility device to indicate whether the mobility device is in the standby state or the active state; and

controlling the mobility device in accordance with either the standby state or the active state as determined based on the sensor information.

3. The control method of claim 1 , when the electronic controller categorizes the safety alert condition to have the first degree of severity corresponding to the first level safety alert condition, the electronic controller controls the electronic indicators to output the visual alert having a first configuration that is visible to the user.

4. The control method of claim 3 , when the electronic controller categorizes the safety alert condition as the medium level safety alert condition, the electronic controller controls the electronic indicators to output the visual alert having a second configuration different from the first configuration that is visible to the user.

5. The control method of claim 1 , wherein when the electronic controller categorizes a safety alert condition to have a third degree of severity of the hazard greater than the second degree of severity corresponding to a severe safety alert condition, the electronic controller controls the at least one drive component to limit torque to prevent movement of the at least one joint component, else the plurality of sensors continue to detect the state of the at least one drive component and/or the at least one joint component.

6. The control method of claim 5 , wherein when the electronic controller categorizes the safety alert condition as the severe safety alert condition the electronic controller controls the electronic indicators to output the visual alert having a third configuration different from the first and second configurations that is visible to the user.

7. The control method of claim 1 , wherein the mobility device is a legged mobility exoskeleton device, and the at least one drive component that drives at least one joint component comprises a plurality of drive components that drive a plurality of joint components including at least knee joint components and hip joint components.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing program code for a control application for use in controlling a mobility device including at least one drive component that drives at least one joint component;

wherein the mobility device comprises: an electronic controller for controlling operation of the at least one drive component to selectively configure and modulate the at least one joint component; a plurality of sensors to detect a state of the at least one drive component and/or the at least one joint component; and a plurality of electronic indicators; and

the electronic controller executes the program code to perform the steps of:

receiving sensor information from the sensors corresponding to operation of the mobility device;

analyzing the sensor information and determining a control mode of operation based on the sensor information;

generating a control signal to control the electronic indicators to output a visual alert that is visible to a user of the mobility device, the visual alert corresponding to the determined control mode of operation; and

controlling the at least one drive component of the mobility device to selectively control the at least one joint component in accordance with the determined control mode of operation;

wherein when the electronic controller determines that the control mode of operation is a device alerts control mode, the electronic controller further executes the program code to perform the steps of:

receiving the sensor information from the sensors corresponding to the operation of the mobility device and further corresponding to a safety alert condition regarding said operation of the mobility device, the safety alert condition comprising a condition corresponding to a hazard as to which the user of the mobility device may not be aware and as to which the user can perform a specific action to resolve the safety alert condition in response to an alert of the safety alert condition;

categorizing the safety alert condition by a degree of severity of the hazard;

controlling the electronic indicators to output the visual alert to indicate the degree of severity of the safety alert condition; and

controlling the mobility device in accordance with the degree of severity, by controlling an amount of torque applied by the drive component to the at least one joint component and the amount of torque is based upon the degree of severity;

wherein:

when the electronic controller categorizes the safety alert condition as a first level safety alert condition having a first degree of severity of the hazard, the electronic controller controls the at least one drive component to drive the at least one joint component in accordance with one or more modes of sitting, standing, walking, and transitions between modes of sitting, standing, or walking, else the plurality of sensors continue to detect the state of the at least one drive component and/or the at least one joint component; and

when the electronic controller categorizes the safety alert condition to have a second degree of severity of the hazard greater than the first degree of severity corresponding to a medium level safety alert condition, the electronic controller controls the at least one drive component to drive the at least one joint component to limit torque to the at least one joint component so as to limit transitions between standing, walking, and sitting, else the plurality of sensors continue to detect the state of the at least one drive component and/or the at least one joint component.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein when the electronic controller categorizes a safety alert condition to have a third degree of severity of the hazard greater than the second degree of severity corresponding to a severe safety alert condition, the electronic controller controls the at least one drive component to limit torque to prevent movement of the at least one joint component, else the plurality of sensors continue to detect the state of the at least one drive component and/or the at least one joint component.

10. A mobility device comprising:

an electronic controller for controlling operation of at least one drive component to selectively control at least one joint component;

a plurality of sensors to detect a state of the at least one drive component and/or the at least one joint component;

a plurality of electronic indicators; and

the non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 8 , wherein the electronic controller executes the program code stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium.

11. The mobility device of claim 10 , wherein the mobility device is a legged mobility exoskeleton device comprising a plurality of drive components that drive a plurality of joint components including at least knee joint components and hip joint components.