Efficient Lower Limb Exoskeleton for Human Motion Assistance

The main advantage of the fully autonomous system is its ability to decouple the weight/mass carrying function of the system from its forward motion function. It makes exoskeleton more efficient by reducing its power consumption, weight and size of the propulsion motors as well as by extending the run time of the batteries. A human machine interface has been achieved by means of flexible sensors to monitor subject shank and ankle movements and subject’s foot pressure. When subject stands on one leg and swings the other one the body weight is fully supported by standing leg exoskeleton structure where the knee joint motion is fully blocked. The join motors are small in size and consume less electrical energy from batteries because they do not support subject’s weight during the walk.