A Wearable Lower Limb Exoskeleton: Reducing the Energy Cost of Human Movement

Tang, Xinyao; Ji, Xiaomin; Zhou, Yawen; Yang, Jie; Wei, Yu‐Chen; Zhang, Wenjie

doi:10.3390/mi13060900

Cited by 28 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 123 publications

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“…It is worth noting that nursing jobs are predominantly occupied by women. Hence, an exoskeleton design should account for the unique physical requirements of women nurses to ensure that they are adequately supported and protected against musculoskeletal injuries [ 32 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of Exoskeletons on Nurses’ Quality of Work Life: A Pilot Study at Foch Hospital

Farah,

Roll,

Sorais

et al. 2023

Nursing Reports

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Background: The prevention of occupational risks is part of the quality of work life and it is a component that improves the physical work environment. The purpose of the present study was to investigate how to maintain posture and to reduce pain and fatigue for nurses, with an exoskeleton adapted to the work at hospital. Methods: The exoskeleton was used between 2022 to 2023 at Foch Hospital, France. Phase 1 consisted of the selection of the exoskeleton, and Phase 2 included the testing of the device by the nurses and a questionnaire to assess it. Results: The “active” ATLAS model from JAPET, ensuring lumbar protection, was selected because it corresponds to all the specification criteria to tackle the nurses’ unmet need. Among the 14 healthcare professionals, 86% were women; the age of the nurses was between 23 years old and 58 years old. The global median satisfaction score of the nurses relative to the use of the exoskeleton was 6/10. The median impact of the exoskeleton on nurses’ fatigue was 7/10. Conclusions: The implementation of the exoskeleton received global positive qualitative feedback from the nurses concerning the improvement of posture and the reduction in fatigue and pain.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of Exoskeletons on Nurses’ Quality of Work Life: A Pilot Study at Foch Hospital

Farah,

Roll,

Sorais

et al. 2023

Nursing Reports

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In recent years, there has been a significant amount of work on developing the lower limb powered exoskeletons to assist human motion to enhance human strength, reduce human metabolic energy cost, and rehabilitate abilities lost due to brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and strokes [1][2][3]. In the United States, it is estimated that 8.79 million people between the ages of 21 and 64 years have difficulties in lifting objects [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subject specific optimal control of powered knee exoskeleton to assist human lifting tasks under controlled environment

Arefeen

Xiang

2023

Robotica

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Wearable robots, sometimes known as exoskeletons, are incredible devices for improving human strength, reducing fatigue, and restoring impaired mobility. The control of powered exoskeletons, on the other hand, is still a challenge. This necessitates the development of a technique to simulate exoskeleton–wearer interaction. This study uses a two-dimensional human skeletal model with a powered knee exoskeleton to predict the optimal lifting motion and assistive torque. For lifting motion prediction, an inverse dynamics optimization formulation is utilized. In addition, the electromechanical dynamics of the exoskeleton DC motor are modeled in the lifting optimization formulation. The design variables are human joint angle profiles and exoskeleton motor current profiles. The human joint torque square is minimized subject to physical and lifting task constraints. Then, the lifting optimization problem is solved by the gradient-based sparse nonlinear optimizer (SNOPT). Furthermore, the optimal exoskeleton torque is implemented through a two-phase control strategy to provide optimal assistance in lifting. Experimental validations of the optimal control with 6 Nm and 16 Nm maximum assistive torque are presented. Both 6 Nm and 16 Nm maximum optimal assistance of the exoskeletons reduce the mean values of vastus lateralis, biceps femoris, and latissimus dorsi muscle activations compared to the lifting without the exoskeleton. However, the mean value of the vastus medialis activation is increased by a small amount for the exoskeleton case, although its peak value is reduced. Finally, the experimental results demonstrate that the proposed lifting optimization formulation and control strategy are promising for powered knee exoskeleton for lifting tasks.

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“…Using robotics in rehabilitation therapy can significantly increase its efficiency while reducing the labor intensity of therapists. Consequently, designing a lower extremity rehabilitation exoskeleton is imperative to assist patients in regaining lower limb movement function, thus restoring self-care abilities [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Optimization of Lower Limb Rehabilitation Exoskeleton with a Multiaxial Knee Joint

et al. 2023

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To facilitate rehabilitation training for patients, we proposed the implementation of an anthropomorphic exoskeleton structure that incorporates a variable instantaneous center of rotation (ICR). This design considers the variability in knee ICR among individuals, resulting from the irregular form of the human knee joint, and leverages a double-degrees-of-freedom (2DOF) five-bar mechanism to adapt to these differences. The walking gait of the human lower limb and the corresponding knee ICR were measured and calculated using an optical 3D motion capture system. The optimal dimension parameters of the five-bar mechanism were then obtained through the optimization of human movement position inputs and rod length constraints to minimize the error in knee ICR, gait angle, and ankle trajectory between the human and the exoskeleton. Finally, we established an exoskeleton prototype to conduct relevant experimental tests. The experiment results showed that the average errors of knee ICR trajectory, hip angle, knee angle, and ankle trajectory were 5.52 × 10−4 m, 0.010 rad, 0.014 rad, and 1.57 × 10−3 m, respectively. The experimental results demonstrated that the exoskeleton’s movement trajectory was close to the human’s, reducing the human–mechanism interaction force and improving patient comfort during rehabilitation training.

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A Wearable Lower Limb Exoskeleton: Reducing the Energy Cost of Human Movement

Cited by 28 publications

References 123 publications

Assessment of Exoskeletons on Nurses’ Quality of Work Life: A Pilot Study at Foch Hospital

Assessment of Exoskeletons on Nurses’ Quality of Work Life: A Pilot Study at Foch Hospital

Subject specific optimal control of powered knee exoskeleton to assist human lifting tasks under controlled environment

Design and Optimization of Lower Limb Rehabilitation Exoskeleton with a Multiaxial Knee Joint

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