Special Issue: Active Exoskeletons; Guest Editor: Miomir VukobratovicNo Access

A QUASI-PASSIVE LEG EXOSKELETON FOR LOAD-CARRYING AUGMENTATION

CONOR JAMES WALSH

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

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KEN ENDO

MIT Media Lab, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

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, and

HUGH HERR

Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

Corresponding author: MIT Media Lab, Room E15-424.

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https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219843607001126Cited by:346 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

A quasi-passive leg exoskeleton is presented for load-carrying augmentation during walking. The exoskeleton has no actuators, only ankle and hip springs and a knee variable-damper. Without a payload, the exoskeleton weighs 11.7 kg and requires only 2 Watts of electrical power during loaded walking. For a 36 kg payload, we demonstrate that the quasi-passive exoskeleton transfers on average 80% of the load to the ground during the single support phase of walking. By measuring the rate of oxygen consumption on a study participant walking at a self-selected speed, we find that the exoskeleton slightly increases the walking metabolic cost of transport (COT) as compared to a standard loaded backpack (10% increase). However, a similar exoskeleton without joint springs or damping control (zero-impedance exoskeleton) is found to increase COT by 23% compared to the loaded backpack, highlighting the benefits of passive and quasi-passive joint mechanisms in the design of efficient, low-mass leg exoskeletons.

Keywords:

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