A lower limb exoskeleton based on recognition of lower limb walking intention

Abstract

Recognition of walking intention and assistance in the load-carrying driver’s walking capability are key challenging areas in lower limb exoskeletons. We present a lower limb exoskeleton called the unmanned technology research centre exoskeleton (UTRCEXO). It recognizes walking intention, including step initiation, step velocity (acceleration and deceleration), and step termination of drivers using only insole-type FSRs and three axis F/T sensors. UTRCEXO recognizes the driver’s intention of step initiation using insole-type FSRs and recognizes the intention of step velocity and step termination using three axis F/T sensors. UTRCEXO makes use of four DC motors, two at each knee and hip joint, to assist the driver. The the driver can carry a 20 kg payload comfortably with muscle activity reduction. In this paper, we evaluate muscle activity reduction in walking drivers equipped with UTRCEXO carrying a 20 kg payload.

A review of the design of load-carrying exoskeletons

“…For the active exoskeleton, the actuator directly affects the performance. At present, actuators used in active exoskeletons mainly include hydraulic actuators [67], electrical motors [68], and pneumatic muscle actuators [69]. Hydraulic actuators are smaller in size, deliver great power and can absorb high impact loads.…”

“…Due to the lack of external power, passive devices cannot provide sufficient power and the performance in reducing muscle activity and metabolic cost is compromised compared with the active ones. For example, in a study [74] of a passive exoskeleton designed to carry loads, the average median oxygen consumption decreased by only 9.45% in an experiment where a mass of 15 kg was lifted 10 times to a height of 1.5 m. Table 2 gives an overview of lower limb exoskeleton providing joint torques addressing the metabolic reduction performance [10,[12][13][14]42,53,59,63,64,68,70,74,75].…”

Statistical Analysis of the Effectiveness of Wearable Robot

“…Over the last few decades, wearable robots have been presented for assisting people [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Wearable robots are mechanical devices that allow a wearer to work without using force or with force reduction [11].…”