Design and fabrication of a lower limb exoskeleton to assist in stair ascending
ISSN: 0143-991x
Article publication date: 7 May 2019
Issue publication date: 7 May 2019
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to deal with the development of a novel lower limb exoskeleton to assist disabled people in stair ascending.
Design/methodology/approach
For this purpose, a novel design of a mixture of motors and cables has been proposed for users to wear them easily and show the application of the system in stair climbing.
Findings
One of the prominences of this study is the provided robot design where four joints are actuated with only two motors; each motor actuates either the knees or ankles. Another advantage of the designed system is that with motors placed in a backpack, the knee braces can be worn under clothes to be concealed. Finally, the system performance is evaluated using electromyography (EMG) signals showing 28 per cent reduction in energy consumption of related muscles.
Originality/value
This investigation deals with the development of a novel lower limb exoskeleton to assist disabled people in stair ascending.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for the help of the CAST Laboratory members, especially, its director Prof. Aghil Yousefi-Koma for EMG data acquisitions.
Citation
Joudzadeh, P., Hadi, A., Tarvirdizadeh, B., Borooghani, D. and Alipour, K. (2019), "Design and fabrication of a lower limb exoskeleton to assist in stair ascending", Industrial Robot, Vol. 46 No. 2, pp. 290-299. https://doi.org/10.1108/IR-09-2018-0199
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited