Flexible Gait Enhancing Mechatronics System for Lower Limb Assistance (GEMS L-Type)

Lee, Younbaek; Lee, Jongwon; Choi, Byungjune; Lee, Minhyung; Roh, Seulki; Kim, Kyungrock; Seo, Keehong; Kim, Yong-Jae; Shim, Youngbo

doi:10.1109/tmech.2019.2922977

Cited by 29 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The elbow range of motion was selected by characterizing data from two industrial use cases of the European project SOPHIA 1 . Based on the identified range and the imposed implementation constraints, the joint range of 116 • (θ max ) was considered.…”

Section: A Torque and Motion Range Of The Elbowmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, it is known that the main disadvantage of the bungees can be their S-shaped output force profile [21]. To compensate for this, we design a novel cam-spool system, which is lightweight and can adjust the bungee output force mechanically to adapt to the human elbow torque/angle function (1). The details of the cam-spool design are presented in the following Section.…”

Section: B Elastic Materials Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Robotic exoskeletons are wearable mechanical devices designed to enhance the physical performance of the wearer, or to assist him/her to regain a weakened or lost functionality [1]. Example applications range from load carrying [2] and tool use [3], to motion assistance in sit-to-stand [4] and walking [5] tasks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Soft Assistive Device for Elbow Effort-Compensation

Mobedi

Kim

Momi

et al. 2021

2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)

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The use of assistive technologies in industrial environments to improve human ergonomics and comfort in repetitive and high effort tasks have increased considerably in the last decade. Predominantly, the goal is to provide additional physical support through lightweight and wearable devices, without posing major constraints to the human body movements. Towards achieving this objective, in this work we present a novel actuation mechanism for a soft assistive device, by taking into account the human elbow torque-angle profile. The proposed design integrates a single motor coupled with an elastic bungee and a cam-spool mechanism to enable energy exchange during the elbow flexion movement, while allowing for free-motions during the extension of the joint. A cable-driven transmission with passive elastic attachments is employed to implement compliant couplings with the wearer and to achieve easy donning/doffing. Experiments are conducted on two 3D printed functional prototypes. Results suggest that the assistive elbow torque is effectively transmitted with an average 90% success for balancing a 5N payload, and the free-motion range of 108 • is measured for both flexion and extension.

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Section: A Torque and Motion Range Of The Elbowmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: B Elastic Materials Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Soft Assistive Device for Elbow Effort-Compensation

Mobedi

Kim

Momi

et al. 2021

2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)

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“…Exoskeletons for lowerlimb paralysis focus on assisting different mobility impairments, e.g., the robot suit HAL used in rehabilitation scenarios [6], the ReWalk exoskeleton for spinal-cord injury (SCI) persons, which relies on crutches for achieving locomotion [7]. While other research approaches envision soft robotic suits for hemiplegia patients [8] through a flexible exoskeleton for lower-limbs assistance with wire-driven systems [9], [10], [11] and other works as reviewed in [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personal Mobility With Synchronous Trunk–Knee Passive Exoskeleton: Optimizing Human–Robot Energy Transfer

Paez-Granados

Kadone

Hassan

et al. 2022

IEEE/ASME Trans. Mechatron.

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We present a personal mobility device for lowerbody impaired users through a light-weighted exoskeleton on wheels. On its core, a novel passive exoskeleton provides postural transition leveraging natural body postures with support to the trunk on sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit (STS) transitions by a single gas spring as an energy storage unit. We propose a direction-dependent coupling of knees and hip joints through a double-pulley wire system, transferring energy from the torso motion towards balancing the moment load at the knee joint actuator. Herewith, the exoskeleton maximizes energy transfer and the naturalness of the user's movement. We introduce an embodied user interface for hands-free navigation through a torso pressure sensing with minimal trunk rotations, resulting on average 19 • ± 13 • on six unimpaired users. We evaluated the design for STS assistance on 11 unimpaired users observing motions and muscle activity during the transitions. Results comparing assisted and unassisted STS transitions validated a significant reduction (up to 68% p < 0.01) at the involved muscle groups. Moreover, we showed it feasible through natural torso leaning movements of +12 • ± 6.5 • and −13.7 • ± 6.1 • for standing and sitting, respectively. Passive postural transition assistance warrants further work on increasing its applicability and broadening the user population.

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“…It is mainly applied to exoskeletons for rehabilitation because it can restrain the wearer's unnecessary movements. Third, in an active-joint-type exoskeleton, actuators are applied to the joints to work in synchronization with the wearer's intention [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. The exoskeleton needs a battery to drive, and the actuator's output torque must be large because the actuator must assist human movement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of a Payload Adjustment Device for an Unpowered Lower-Limb Exoskeleton

Yun

Kang

Joe

2021

Sensors

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This paper proposes a device that can change the payload of an unpowered lower-limb exoskeleton supporting the weights of humans and loads. Our previous exoskeletons used a cam–follower structure with a spring applied to the hip joint. This exoskeleton showed satisfying performance within the payload; however, the performance decreased when the payload was exceeded. Therefore, a payload adjustment device that can adjust the wearer’s required torque by easily applying it to the cam–follower structure was developed. An exoskeleton dynamic equation that can calculate a person’s required joint torque given the required payload and the wearer’s posture was derived. This dynamic equation provides a guideline for designing a device that can adjust the allowable joint torque range of an unpowered exoskeleton. In the Adams simulation environment, the payload adjustment device is applied to the cam–follower structure to show that the payload of the exoskeleton can be changed. User convenience and mass production were taken into account in the design of this device. This payload adjustment device should flexibly change the payload of the level desired by the wearer because it can quickly change the payload of the exoskeleton.

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Flexible Gait Enhancing Mechatronics System for Lower Limb Assistance (GEMS L-Type)

Cited by 29 publications

References 22 publications

A Soft Assistive Device for Elbow Effort-Compensation

A Soft Assistive Device for Elbow Effort-Compensation

Personal Mobility With Synchronous Trunk–Knee Passive Exoskeleton: Optimizing Human–Robot Energy Transfer

Design of a Payload Adjustment Device for an Unpowered Lower-Limb Exoskeleton

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