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Background: Walking is a complex process that involves rhythmic movement of lower limb along with the coordination of brain, nerves and muscles. If the coordination is disturbed, gait may be effected or disordered. Therefore, it should be treated effectively and efficiently using assistive devices/exoskeletons. The exoskeletons and assistive devices may be embedded with the linkage and other mechanisms to imitate the behavior of human lower limb. However, these mechanisms are synthesized using the complex conventional procedures. Thus, a new gait-inspired algorithm is proposed in this study for synthesizing a four-bar mechanism for exoskeletons.

Methods: This paper presents a design of four-bar linkage for lower limb exoskeleton to support walking. A new gait-inspired algorithm to synthesize four-bar linkage is also proposed which uses two phases of gait, namely, the swing phase and the stance phase, for lower limb exoskeleton. The trajectory is derived for each phase of the gait and is combined with the optimization techniques. The trajectory passes through 10 precision points in each phase giving a total of 20 precision points for one gait cycle. The optimization is performed in two stages. The first stage deals with the minimization of error between the desired and the generated foot trajectories; whereas, the second stage deals with the minimization of error between the desired and generated hip trajectories of the linkage. Besides the gait-inspired four-bar linkage synthesis, a hybrid teaching-learning-particle-swarm-optimization (HTLPSO) technique is also used to solve the problem.

Results: A well-established genetic algorithm (GA) and a new hybrid (HTLPSO) algorithm are used to compare the results of the tracking error of the linkage. It is found that the HTLPSO optimization algorithm performs better in comparison to GA for the problem considered here. Finally, a solid model of the proposed design for lower limb exoskeleton is presented. Moreover, the obtained linkage tracks all the prescribed points accurately and the simulation of designed linkage has been demonstrated using stick diagram for one gait cycle.

Conclusion: The proposed method has simplified the synthesis procedure to a great extent, and a feasible design is obtained using the optimization algorithm. The mechanism obtained using the proposed method can walk smoothly which is validated through stick diagram. The proposed mechanism can be used for exoskeleton, assistive devices, bipeds etc. Moreover, the proposed method may be extended to six- and eight-bar mechanisms.

In this study, a wearable exoskeleton with an active drive mechanism was designed for both space-saving and to ensure the safety and comfort of the workers. At the same time, this active wearable exoskeleton mechanism aims to facilitate the daily life of disabled people with its movement assisting feature. For these purposes, an active and wearable exoskeleton with a total of five degrees of freedom, two active (arm and shoulder flexion/extension) and three passive axes (shoulder lateral rotation and shoulder abduction/adduction), was developed. A novel load suspension system has been implemented to the design for absorbtion of the mechanism’s own weight. The force-based impedance control method has been used for effective human–robot interaction. Furthermore, a low-cost electromyography sensor has been developed and integrated into the robotic system as biological feedback. As a result of the tests, it has been revealed that the system can help with lifting loads and successfully perform rehabilitation exercises.

This paper presents a design and model of a powered elbow exoskeleton to assist the movement of elbow joint. This exoskeleton will strengthen the elbow joint by providing a controllable torque in addition to that generated by elbow joint muscles. Therefore, it can be used for healthy people and for physically weak people, such as disabled or elderly people, in performing their daily activities. The proposed design focuses on using EMG signals recorded from biceps and triceps muscles (which are responsible for elbow joint movements) to control the exoskeleton in performing elbow flexion/extension. The EMG signals and elbow flexion angle were recorded from four healthy subjects whilst performing different tasks of elbow flexion/extension. Pre-processing and conditioning of EMG signals were performed by system hardware while MATLAB/Simulink was used for further signal processing and for designing the whole system of arm and exoskeleton. EMG signals from biceps and triceps muscles were used as reference inputs to the model giving the intended motion. In the design, the parameters of the components, such as the DC motor, gear box and conditioning circuits, were taken from available (off the shelf) cheap components to make it easy and cheap to implement the proposed exoskeleton. In addition, all the torques: the forearm and exoskeleton torques and the torque generated by the muscles, were taken into consideration in the design for being as close as possible to the practice. Future work will be to develop a prototype to implement the proposed design.

This study developed an underactuated lower extremity exoskeleton system to carry a heavy load. To synchronize that system with a user, a feasible modular-type wearable system and its corresponding sensor systems are proposed. To operate the system with a user, human walking analysis and intention signal acquisition methods for actuating the proposed system are developed. In particular, a sensing data estimation strategy is applied to correctly synchronize the exoskeleton system with a user. Finally, several experiments were performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed exoskeleton system by measuring the electromyography signal of the wearers muscles.

This paper presents a 3 DOF (Degrees Of Freedom) planar hopping machine running in a simulation software environment. The purpose is to use this approach to study the control, simulation and design of legged robots and exoskeletons. The control system allows the machine hopping in place after fall with his leg a little inclined, then hopping forward, then hopping backward and then stop hopping in place. Hopping machines are the most simplified dynamic model capable of representing the elastic behaviour of the legs of mammals and insects in running and hopping. The results of the simulation presented shown that pelvic tilt observed in human running is also observed in the hopping machine running model. This encourages the modelling of anthropomorphic legs for use in human running simulations with hopping machine models and control strategies.

Research on lower-limb exoskeletons and active orthoses is a growing field in service robotics. Nowadays commercial active orthoses present stiff joints but for the intrinsic human-machine interaction task, these actuators need to exhibit compliance. Moreover, they must be powerful enough to move the user limbs while keeping small size for not to bother the user motion and show an aesthetic appearance. In this paper we present the development and main characteristics of a joint prototype with variable stiffness that achieve these requirements. This actuated joint has been implemented in the knee of ATLAS active orthosis. A state machine control scheme takes advantage of the leg dynamics and of the actuator features, achieving a natural, compliant gait without the need of commanding a CGA based pattern. A reduction in the energy expenditure while keeping compliant to accommodate unexpected disturbances is obtained.

Low volume industrial productions are rarely highly automated because of the related costs. Variable production requires flexible automation with close human robot interaction. An exoskeleton may exactly provide these features to enhance industrial production. This article highlights the difficulties related to using exoskeletons in an industrial setting. Moreover, it introduces the Robo-Mate project – an EU funded project – targeted to address the application of an exoskeleton in industry.