Design and preliminary evaluation of a flexible exoskeleton to assist with lifting
We present a passive (unpowered) exoskeleton that assists the back during lifting. Our exoskeleton uses carbon fiber beams as the sole means to store energy and return it to the wearer. To motivate the design, we present general requirements for the design of a lifting exoskeleton, including calcula...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Wearable Technologies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2631717620000109/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1811155714070020096 |
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| author | S. Emily Chang Taylor Pesek Timothy R. Pote Joshua Hull Jack Geissinger Athulya A. Simon Mohammad Mehdi Alemi Alan T. Asbeck |
| author_facet | S. Emily Chang Taylor Pesek Timothy R. Pote Joshua Hull Jack Geissinger Athulya A. Simon Mohammad Mehdi Alemi Alan T. Asbeck |
| author_sort | S. Emily Chang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We present a passive (unpowered) exoskeleton that assists the back during lifting. Our exoskeleton uses carbon fiber beams as the sole means to store energy and return it to the wearer. To motivate the design, we present general requirements for the design of a lifting exoskeleton, including calculating the required torque to support the torso for people of different weights and heights. We compare a number of methods of energy storage for exoskeletons in terms of mass, volume, hysteresis, and cycle life. We then discuss the design of our exoskeleton, and show how the torso assembly leads to balanced forces. We characterize the energy storage in the exoskeleton and the torque it provides during testing with human subjects. Ten participants performed freestyle, stoop, and squat lifts. Custom image processing software was used to extract the curvature of the carbon fiber beams in the exoskeleton to determine the stored energy. During freestyle lifting, it stores an average of 59.3 J and provides a peak torque of 71.7 Nm. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:39:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fea7a87a550f44429299d84ca931ff76 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2631-7176 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:39:12Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Wearable Technologies |
| spelling | doaj.art-fea7a87a550f44429299d84ca931ff762023-03-09T12:43:45ZengCambridge University PressWearable Technologies2631-71762020-01-01110.1017/wtc.2020.10Design and preliminary evaluation of a flexible exoskeleton to assist with liftingS. Emily Chang0Taylor Pesek1Timothy R. Pote2Joshua Hull3Jack Geissinger4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4579-3847Athulya A. Simon5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1166-1408Mohammad Mehdi Alemi6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4257-3566Alan T. Asbeck7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5589-7797Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USADepartment of Computer Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USADepartment of Orthopedic Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USAWe present a passive (unpowered) exoskeleton that assists the back during lifting. Our exoskeleton uses carbon fiber beams as the sole means to store energy and return it to the wearer. To motivate the design, we present general requirements for the design of a lifting exoskeleton, including calculating the required torque to support the torso for people of different weights and heights. We compare a number of methods of energy storage for exoskeletons in terms of mass, volume, hysteresis, and cycle life. We then discuss the design of our exoskeleton, and show how the torso assembly leads to balanced forces. We characterize the energy storage in the exoskeleton and the torque it provides during testing with human subjects. Ten participants performed freestyle, stoop, and squat lifts. Custom image processing software was used to extract the curvature of the carbon fiber beams in the exoskeleton to determine the stored energy. During freestyle lifting, it stores an average of 59.3 J and provides a peak torque of 71.7 Nm.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2631717620000109/type/journal_articleback exoskeletonenergy storageexoskeletonlift assistance |
| spellingShingle | S. Emily Chang Taylor Pesek Timothy R. Pote Joshua Hull Jack Geissinger Athulya A. Simon Mohammad Mehdi Alemi Alan T. Asbeck Design and preliminary evaluation of a flexible exoskeleton to assist with lifting Wearable Technologies back exoskeleton energy storage exoskeleton lift assistance |
| title | Design and preliminary evaluation of a flexible exoskeleton to assist with lifting |
| title_full | Design and preliminary evaluation of a flexible exoskeleton to assist with lifting |
| title_fullStr | Design and preliminary evaluation of a flexible exoskeleton to assist with lifting |
| title_full_unstemmed | Design and preliminary evaluation of a flexible exoskeleton to assist with lifting |
| title_short | Design and preliminary evaluation of a flexible exoskeleton to assist with lifting |
| title_sort | design and preliminary evaluation of a flexible exoskeleton to assist with lifting |
| topic | back exoskeleton energy storage exoskeleton lift assistance |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2631717620000109/type/journal_article |
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