Biomechanical Energy Analysis and Functional Evaluation of a Lower Limb Energy Harvesting and Transmission Exoskeleton

Abstract

Background: Human beings are constantly adjusting their strategies to adapt to the new environment along with the rapid evolution and development. Scientists have made great effort to collect the energy consumed by walking and provide it as energy input to join the energy circulation system. It can be utilized to rehabilitation training, walking assistance and energy compensation of patients with mild hemiplegia. Methods: Based on the clinical medical viewpoint of healthy side teaching the affected side, through harvesting the energy of the healthy side of the lower limb, release it when the affected side works, to realize the movement assistance independently. Therefore, this paper describes an energy harvesting and transmission exoskeleton (EHTE) to achieve the biomechanical energy harvest, management, and transmission. The human experiment and function evaluation was carried out to explore the influence mechanism on the main muscles of human lower limbs. The data acquired by the sEMG experiment, and sEMG signals were recorded. Results: The result shows that EHTE can reduce the strength and activity of some muscles and achieve ipsilateral and contralateral lower limb assistance. The sEMG signal of muscle changes considerably during walking with EHTE, which indicates that muscle contraction has enhanced. Conclusions: It suggested that the body adjusts physiological changes automatically to adapt to energy transmission during walking. EHTE provides a potential solution to enhance exercise ability, prolong the joint life, delay the development of disease and improve the quality of life.