Abstract
The number of elderly populations is rapidly increasing. Majority of elderly people face difficulties while walking because the muscular activity or other gait-related parameters start to deteriorate with aging. Therefore, the quality of life among them can be suffered. To make their life more comfortable, service providing robotic solutions in terms of wearable powered exoskeletons should be realized. Assistive powered exoskeletons are capable of providing additional torque to support various activities, such as walking, sit to stand, and stand to sit motions to subjects with mobility impairments. Specifically, the powered exoskeletons try to maintain and keep subjects' limbs on the specified motion trajectory. The state of the art of currently available lower limb assistive exoskeletons for weak and elderly people is presented in this paper. The technology employed in the assistive devices, such as actuation and power supply types, control strategies, their functional abilities, and the mechanism design, is thoroughly described. The outcome of studied literature reveals that there is still much work to be done in the improvement of assistive exoskeletons in terms of their technological aspects, such as choosing proper and effective control methods, developing user friendly interfaces, and decreasing the costs of device to make it more affordable, meanwhile ensuring safe interaction for the end-users.
Highlights
Beginning from the late of the 20th century when the vast research has started developing robotic systems to increase physical capabilities or to rehabilitate patients, people started to use expression ‘‘wearable robotics’’ [1]
Based on the designation of wearable robotic exoskeletons, they are designed towards assisting people with gait abnormalities in their locomotion, increasing physical capabilities of people to allow them carry or lift heavy loads, and rehabilitate patients after surgery or patients suffering from various neurological disorders which causes gait impairments to some extent
PROSPECTIVE The aim of the present work was to provide comprehensive state of the art of currently existing lower limb robotic exoskeletons which might be used by elderly people
Summary
Beginning from the late of the 20th century when the vast research has started developing robotic systems to increase physical capabilities or to rehabilitate patients, people started to use expression ‘‘wearable robotics’’ [1]. Based on the designation of wearable robotic exoskeletons, they are designed towards assisting people with gait abnormalities in their locomotion, increasing physical capabilities of people to allow them carry or lift heavy loads, and rehabilitate patients after surgery or patients suffering from various neurological disorders which causes gait impairments to some extent. Majority of research is concentrated on developing rehabilitation exoskeletons for. Since the locomotion capability among elderly people declines, it causes them various inconveniences in their everyday life. In order to help elderly people maintaining good quality lifestyle, there is a need to develop robotic assistive exoskeletons [4].
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