Functional electrical stimulation (FES) and robotic exoskeletons are two important technologies widely used for physical rehabilitation of paraplegic patients. We developed a hybrid rehabilitation system (FEXO Knee) that combined FES and an exoskeleton for swinging movement control of human knee joints. This study proposed a novel cooperative control strategy, which could realize arbitrary dist...

The design of an assistive lower limb exoskeleton robot for paraplegic patients that can measure the centre of pressure is presented. In contrast with most biped walking robots, the centre of pressure (CoP) or zero moment point (ZMP) has not been actively used in the operation of exoskeleton robots. In order to measure CoP in our exoskeleton robot, two kinds of for...

In a clinical environment for rehabilitation therapy, one exoskeleton is usually shared by multiple patients. If the exoskeleton has a rigid structure which is actuated to mobilize a patient, it will be challenging to guarantee these on-site adjustments can make the rigid exoskeleton fit each patient kinematically perfectly. This paper proposes to design an exoskeleton using compliant continuum...

A quasi-passive leg exoskeleton is presented for load-carrying augmentation during walking. The exoskeleton has no actuators, only ankle and hip springs and a knee variabledamper. Without a payload, the exoskeleton weighs 11.7 kg and requires only 2 Watts of electrical power during loaded walking. For a 36 kg payload, we demonstrate that the quasi-passive exoskeleton transfers on average 80% of...

Although autonomous robotic systems perform remarkably in structured environments (e.g., factories), integrated human–robotic systems are superior to any autonomous robotic systems in unstructured environments that demand significant adaptation. The technology associated with exoskeleton systems and human power augmentation can be divided into lower-extremity exoskeletons and upper-extremity ex...

Exoskeleton robots are mechanical constructions attached to human body parts, containing actuators for influencing human motion. One important application area for exoskeletons is human motion support, for example, for disabled people, including rehabilitation training, and for force enhancement in healthy subjects. This paper surveys two exoskeleton systems developed in our laboratory. The fir...

The exoskeleton is an important source of characters for the taxonomy of Hydroidolina. It originates as epidermal secretions and, among other functions, protects the coenosarc of the polypoid stage. However, comparative studies on the exoskeletal tissue origin, development, chemical, and structural characteristics, as well as its evolution and homology, are few and fragmented. This study compar...

The importance of force sensitivity in robots that interact with unknown disturbance is acknowledged. For the manipulators, impedance controlled robots realized safe and robust object manipulation. For the legged mechanism, it is expected to enhance locomotion stability, since locomotion fundamentally is a manipulation of the center of mass. In order to maximize force sensitivity, both the forc...

The springlike mechanics of the human leg during bouncing gaits has inspired the design of passive assistive devices that use springs to aid locomotion. The purpose of this study was to test whether a passive spring-loaded ankle exoskeleton could reduce the mechanical and energetic demands of bilateral hopping on the musculoskeletal system. Joint level kinematics and kinetics were collected wit...