Abstract
This article presents the principles upon which a new nonanthropomorphic biped exoskeleton was designed, whose legs are based on an eight-bar mechanism. The main function of the exoskeleton is to assist people who have difficulty walking. Every leg is based on the planar Peaucellier–Lipkin mechanism, which is a one degree of freedom linkage. To be used as a robotic leg, the Peaucellier–Lipkin mechanism was modified by including two more degrees of freedom, as well as by the addition of a mechanical system based on toothed pulleys and timing belts that provides balance and stability to the user. The use of the Peaucellier–Lipkin mechanism, its transformation from one to three degrees of freedom, and the incorporation of the stability system are the main innovations and contributions of this novel nonanthropomorphic exoskeleton. Its mobility and performance are also presented herein, through forward and inverse kinematics, together with its application in carrying out the translation movement of the robotic foot along paths with the imposition of motion laws based on polynomial functions of time.
Highlights
An exoskeleton is a wearable passive or active device, intended to extend and enhance user capability
Due to the nature of the one-DOF PL mechanism, which is the basis of this exoskeleton, linear translation, resulting from the rotation of the input link, is provided
This advantage was considered the strongest attribute in the conceptualization of the novel exoskeleton for lower limbs described
Summary
An exoskeleton is a wearable passive or active device, intended to extend and enhance user capability. Most walking exoskeletons are devices designed from traditional mechanical architectures composed of links coupled by either revolute or prismatic joints forming serial chains. These traditional anthropomorphic architectures basically consist of four links, representing the pelvis, femur, tibia, and foot. A novel wearable robot with a nonanthropomorphic architecture, intended to assist hip and knee flexion/extension, is presented by Accoto et al.[10] and Sergi et al.[11] The authors explain that this architecture helps to improve ergonomics and optimizes dynamic properties through an intelligent distribution of swinging masses. Berkeley Bionics and the University of California at Berkeley developed the eLEGS biped exoskeleton, which is a mobile wearable robot used by patients suffering from spinal cord injuries.[17]
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