Abstract
This paper presents the design of a bodyweight-supporting lower-extremity-exoskeleton (LEE) with compliant joints to relieve compressive load in human knees during walking. Based on experimental measurements that relate plantar forces with gait phase, the design of a gait-based LEE is divided into BW-supporting and free-swinging and realized by means of built-in compliant mechanisms in its exoskeleton-knees. Design considerations to accommodate human knee geometry and adapt walking gaits are highlighted. The snap-fit mechanisms for human gait-based operations are illustrated and analyzed numerically. The effects of several different exoskeleton-knee designs on reducing plantar force are experimentally compared validating the effectiveness and light-weight advantages of LEE in reducing plantar force in walking.
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© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
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Lee, KM., Wang, D., Ji, J. (2015). Design of a Passive Gait-Based Lower-Extremity-Exoskeleton for Supporting Bodyweight. In: Liu, H., Kubota, N., Zhu, X., Dillmann, R. (eds) Intelligent Robotics and Applications. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9246. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22873-0_21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22873-0_21
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-22872-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-22873-0
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