Weight Distribution of a Knee Exoskeleton Influences Muscle Activities During Movements

Lower extremity powered exoskeletons help people with movement disorders to perform daily activities and are used increasingly in gait retraining rehabilitation. Studies of often focus on technological aspects such as actuators, control methods, energy effects gait. Limited research has been conducted how different mechanical design parameters can affect the user. In this paper, we study weight distributions knee exoskeleton components simulated muscle during three functional movements. Four CAD models were developed based actual motor gear reducer products. Different placements gearbox resulted distributions. One unilateral prototype was fabricated tested 5 healthy subjects. Simulation results compared observed electromyography signals. Muscle varied among movements, wherein no one physical optimal for all We describe a exoskeleton's core be expected user's ability performance. Exoskeleton should ideally take activity goals into consideration.