Design and implementation of a wearable exoskeleton system for lower limbs

Abstract

Exoskeleton is a kind of wearable mechanical device. It combines the intelligence of human beings with the “physical strength” of robots, and the robots is controlled by human intelligence in this device, then some assignments that could not be accomplished by human alone are achieved by the robots. The lower limbs walking exoskeleton, a human-machine integrated device falls in between the human and the biped robots, could help people walk around. Because decisions could made by people in this device, the gait planning and gait balance during walking become more simple compared with the bipedal walking robots, the structure design is more convenient, and at the same time, the walking ability of the human body can be greatly enhanced, and the range of activities could be enlarged. In this project, a new type of wearable lower limb walking exoskeleton mechanism was designed by using electric system based on the in-depth study of the movement mechanism of human lower limbs musculoskeletal groups. Moreover, a prototype test system for the lower limbs walking exoskeleton was developed on the basis of theoretical research, including the processing and assembly of the mechanical structure, and the concrete realization of the software controlled framework. This prototype test system could serve as the experimental platform for further studied in the future. The ultimate goal of this project is to achieve a walking exoskeleton that has comfortable wearing and stable walking, reduce the energy consumption during walking, reduce the feeling of fatigue, and improve the speed of body weight-bearing exercise. This robot will greatly reduce the load that the heavy object brings to the muscles, and the servo motor will bear the main weight. This can greatly reduce the physical exhaustion of occupational groups mentioned as above and increase the duration of work, so as to bring qualitative changes in work efficiency and effectiveness.