Biomechanical design of the Berkeley lower extremity exoskeleton (BLEEX)

Zoss, Adam; Kazerooni, H.; Chu, Andrew

doi:10.1109/tmech.2006.871087

Cited by 1,014 publications

(428 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The muscular efficieny of positive joint power during steep uphill locomotion is assumed to be ~0.25 (Margaria 1976 Much attention is paid to loaded walking in a military context as this can determine mission success (Knapik et al 2012). Developing an exoskeleton that allows to carry more load, increase endurance or reduce metabolic power seems not straightforward (Zoss et al 2006). Of the few carefully controlled scientific reports of exoskeletons that are intended to increase performance or allow to perform tasks with lower metabolic power, most of them point in the direction of an increase in metabolic power or a decrease in performance when walking with these devices (Gregorczyk et al 2006(Gregorczyk et al , 2012Kazerooni and Steger 2006;Pratt 2004;Schiffman et al 2010;Walsh et al 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing performance during inclined loaded walking with a powered ankle–foot exoskeleton

et al. 2014

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PURPOSE. A simple ankle-foot exoskeleton that assists plantarflexion during push-off can reduce the metabolic power during walking. This suggests that walking performance during a maximal incremental exercise could be improved with an exoskeleton if the exoskeleton is still efficient during maximal exercise intensities. Therefore, we quantified the walking performance during a maximal incremental exercise test with a powered and unpowered exoskeleton: uphill walking with progressively higher weights.METHODS. Nine female subjects performed two incremental exercise tests with an exoskeleton: one day with (powered condition) and another day without (unpowered condition) plantarflexion assistance.Subjects walked on an inclined treadmill (15%) at 5 km•h -1 and 5% of body weight was added every 3 min until exhaustion.RESULTS. At volitional termination no significant differences were found between the powered and unpowered condition for blood lactate concentration (respectively 7.93±2.49; 8.14±2.24mmol•L -1 ), heart rate (respectively 190.00±6.50; 191.78±6.50bpm), Borg score (respectively 18.57±0.79; 18.93±0.73) and 2 peak (respectively 40.55±2.78; 40.55±3.05ml•min -1 •kg -1 ). Thus, subjects were able to reach the same (near) maximal effort in both conditions. However, subjects continued the exercise test longer in the powered condition and carried 7.07±3.34kg more weight because of the assistance of the exoskeleton.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing performance during inclined loaded walking with a powered ankle–foot exoskeleton

et al. 2014

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“…The hip and ankle joint of BLEEX had three DOFs, respectively, among which hip flexion/extension, abduction/adduction and ankle flexion/extension were actuated by linear hydraulic actuators. Its knee joint had one DOF actuated for flexion/extension [23]. The control system of BLEEX mainly collected sensory information from exoskeletons to determine the kinematic and dynamic parameters [23].…”

Section: Climax Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Its knee joint had one DOF actuated for flexion/extension [23]. The control system of BLEEX mainly collected sensory information from exoskeletons to determine the kinematic and dynamic parameters [23]. It was reported that the soldier who wore BLEEX can walk at 0.9 m/s with load up to 75 kg and 1.3m/s without load [6].…”

Section: Climax Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of Exoskeletons and Applications on Rehabilitation

Guan

Wang

2016

MATEC Web of Conferences

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Abstract. For over a century, the development of exoskeletons experienced five periods including sprout, exploration, dormancy, accumulation and climax period from a concept in 19 th century to applications in distinctive fields in 21 th century. Recently, exoskeletons are applied in military, civilian and rehabilitation to augment the travel and loading abilities of soldiers, increase an operator's load-handling capabilities, reduce the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders, and improve the lost functions and quality of life of patients, respectively. Aiming at lessening the strain on physical therapists to train patients with severe or degenerative disabilities, motor cognitive limitation and improving their quality of life, exoskeletons are applied on the field of rehabilitation, mainly on patient training and locomotion. Although great progress has been made in the century long effort to design and implement exoskeletons, many design challenges still remain including powered devices, the comfort of human-machine interface and how to effectively understand the wearer's intensions.

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“…The device is characterized by (a) a soft, responsive interface with the body, (b) sensors and actuators that emulate the function of biological components, and (c) a control system based upon distributed networks with modular components. Unlike current exoskeletons [1], [2] that are heavy and structurally similar to motorized braces, our cyber-physical device is made from soft and elastic materials.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Networked bio-inspired modules for sensorimotor control of wearable cyber-physical devices

Park¹,

Young²,

Chen

et al. 2013

2013 International Conference on Computing, Networking and Communications (ICNC)

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Abstract-We present a functioning prototype of a soft, modular, active cyber-physical assistive device comprised of a sealed network of conductive liquid sensors and collectives of miniature pneumatically-driven actuators that serve as artificial muscles. The system is multi-functional, supports large deformation, and operates with its own on-board pneumatics and controllers. When multiple artificial muscles are collectively actuated (contracted), the overall displacement and force produced is scaled to the size, form, and capabilities of the wearer. Each muscle is equipped with a soft strain sensor that detects the muscle contraction. Four muscles with strain sensors are controlled by one micro-controller as one module. The current prototype has four modules with 16 muscles in total. With different combinations of contracted muscles, various shapes may be demonstrated.Index Terms-cyber-physical system (CPS); assistive device; sensor network; pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM); soft strain sensor; inertial measurement unit (IMU).

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Biomechanical design of the Berkeley lower extremity exoskeleton (BLEEX)

Cited by 1,014 publications

References 12 publications

Enhancing performance during inclined loaded walking with a powered ankle–foot exoskeleton

Enhancing performance during inclined loaded walking with a powered ankle–foot exoskeleton

Development of Exoskeletons and Applications on Rehabilitation

Networked bio-inspired modules for sensorimotor control of wearable cyber-physical devices

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