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arXiv · 2610.21590

A Flow-Theoretic Multimodal Control Framework Fusing Mental and Physical Engagement for Upper-Limb Rehabilitation

Jun Leng·Pengcheng Li·Hanze Wang·Shuxiang Guo·Junlin Jiang
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Abstract

While Assist-as-Needed (AAN) control aims to maximize user participation in robot-assisted training, existing methods relying solely on physical metrics cannot distinguish muscular inability from mental disengagement, leading to suboptimal interventions. To address this ambiguity, a Flow-theoretic multimodal AAN framework is proposed, fusing EEG-based mental engagement and sEMG-based physical engagement into an adaptive impedance control strategy. A four-quadrant fuzzy decision engine translates these dual physiological metrics into continuous control policies. This enables the upper-limb exoskeleton to inject feedforward assistance during intent-execution mismatch (e.g., motor output attenuation despite mental focus) and escalate guiding stiffness to penalize mental distraction. The framework was validated with healthy participants against a state-of-practice sEMG-only AAN baseline. Kinematically and mechanically, the proposed framework reduced robotic energy expenditure by 71.9\% while maintaining precise trajectory tracking, confirming it elicited greater voluntary human effort. Physiologically, the system increased the time spent in the neuroplasticity zone (Flow State Ratio) from 4.6% to 42.8%. These results validate that decoupling and jointly regulating mental and physical states enhances the selectivity of robotic assistance, mitigating user passivity and sustaining the engagement crucial for motor learning.

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Jun Leng, Pengcheng Li, Hanze Wang, Shuxiang Guo, Junlin Jiang. 2026-10-15. A Flow-Theoretic Multimodal Control Framework Fusing Mental and Physical Engagement for Upper-Limb Rehabilitation. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.21590

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