A Wearable Lower Limb Exoskeleton: Reducing the Energy Cost of Human Movement

Abstract

Human body enhancement is an interesting branch of robotics. It focuses on wearable robots in order to improve the performance of human body, reduce energy consumption and delay fatigue, as well as increase body speed. Robot-assisted equipment, such as wearable exoskeletons, are wearable robot systems that integrate human intelligence and robot power. After careful design and adaptation, the human body has energy-saving sports, but it is an arduous task for the exoskeleton to achieve considerable reduction in metabolic rate. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the biomechanics of human sports, the body, and its weaknesses. In this study, a lower limb exoskeleton was classified according to the power source, and the working principle, design idea, wearing mode, material and performance of different types of lower limb exoskeletons were compared and analyzed. The study shows that the unpowered exoskeleton robot has inherent advantages in endurance, mass, volume, and cost, which is a new development direction of robot exoskeletons. This paper not only summarizes the existing research but also points out its shortcomings through the comparative analysis of different lower limb wearable exoskeletons. Furthermore, improvement measures suitable for practical application have been provided.

Keywords

• lower limb exoskeleton
• wearable device
• assisted movement
• metabolic cost