Design and modelling of an efficient assistive robotic exoskeleton with optimum active and passive degrees of freedom

Strength, power and functional ability of human lower limb muscles can be affected by numerous muscular, neuro, skeletal diseases and illnesses.
Aging is associated with the loss of muscle strength and difficulties in functional activities, with the ageing population growing fast due to advancement of medical technologies and treatments, rises the vast demand of new technologies which can assist users with lower limb difficulties.
Robotic exoskeletons aims to enhance the ability of their user’s by providing structural support along with external forces to carry their user.
Research on robotic exoskeletons could be divided into three main groups in the field of robotics, namely Assistive, Adaptive and Rehabilitative Technologies (AART). The assistive technologies are the main focus of this research. Such devices could help the growing aging population and certain patients to regain their independent living. It is essential for the assistive devices to follow, support and carry the human body.
The main aim of this research is to systematically design an assistive exoskeleton that provide 100% assistant to the limbs of its user while reducing the metabolic effort of the user.
Lack of physiological consideration in the previous assistive exoskeleton designs lead to in metabolic inefficiency. This research addressed this issue by using human biomechanics along with physiological parameters as direct inputs to the design of the exoskeleton.
Another factor affecting the efficiency of previous designs found to be using inaccurate mechanical design parameters, this is because previous designers used healthy human anatomical forces and positions directly in their robot’s designs.
During this research all the design parameters and specifications have been adopted from the physical prototype of the robot, all the calculations and simulations have also been done on the experimentally measured physical model of the robot.