An important consideration in the design of a practical system to restore walking in individuals with spinal cord injury is to minimize metabolic energy demand on the user. In this study, the effects of exoskeletal constraints on metabolic energy expenditure were evaluated in able-bodied volunteers to gain insight into the demands of walking with a hybrid neuroprosthesis after paralysis. The ex...

There exists a large disconnect between the natural fluid motion of unconstrained human walking and the unnatural, rigid motion of human walking with a robotic exoskeleton. This unnatural movement of walking in a robotic exoskeleton is largely due to poor controller design and can make the motion energetically inefficient for the user [1]. Our research group has been developing techniques to us...

Integrating humans and robotic machines into one system offers multiple opportunities for creating assistive technologies that can be used in biomedical, industrial, and aerospace applications. The scope of the present research is to study the integration of a human arm with a powered exoskeleton (orthotic device) and its experimental implementation in an elbow joint, naturally controlled by th...

This paper introduces novel modern equipment-a lower extremity exoskeleton, which can implement the mutual complement and the interaction between human intelligence and the robot's mechanical strength. In order to provide a reference for the exoskeleton structure and the drive unit, the human biomechanics were modeled and analyzed by LifeModeler and Adams software to derive each joint kinematic...

During bouncing gaits such as hopping and running, leg muscles generate force to enable elastic energy storage and return primarily from tendons and, thus, demand metabolic energy. In an effort to reduce metabolic demand, we designed two elastic leg exoskeletons that act in parallel with the wearer's legs; one exoskeleton consisted of a multiple leaf (MLE) and the other of a single leaf (SLE) s...

We present a design study for a lower-limb exoskeleton using model-based optimization techniques. A physically realistic combined human-exoskeleton model is fitted to data of regular human walking motions in different conditions using a least squares optimal control formulation. This helps to determine which torques would be required to make the human-exoskeleton system follow desired motions a...

We used a lower limb robotic exoskeleton controlled by the wearer's muscle activity to study human locomotor adaptation to disrupted muscular coordination. Ten healthy subjects walked while wearing a pneumatically powered ankle exoskeleton on one limb that effectively increased plantar flexor strength of the soleus muscle. Soleus electromyography amplitude controlled plantar flexion assistance ...

INTRODUCTION People often change their coordination strategies as they learn to walk with ankle exoskeletons [1], yet most current exoskeleton control approaches do not appropriately account for these changes. Timebased assistance techniques, in which the exoskeleton is actuated at a specific point in the gait cycle [2, 3], keep device behavior static regardless of human adaptation. Proportiona...

A gravity balancing lower extremity exoskeleton is a simple mechanical device composed of rigid links, joints and springs, which is adjustable to the geometry and inertia of the leg of a human subject wearing it. This passive exoskeleton does not use any motors or controllers, yet can still unload the human leg joints of the gravity load over the full range of motion of the leg. The underlying ...

The kinematics recursive equation was built by using the modified D-H method after the structure of rehabilitation lower extremity exoskeleton was analyzed. The numerical algorithm of inverse kinematics was given too. Then the three-dimensional simulation model of the exoskeleton robot was built using MATLAB software, based on the model, 3D Reappearance of a complete gait was achieved. Finally,...