Title: Development of passive wearable walking helper controlled by servo brake

Authors: Y. Hirata, T. Isoda, K. Kosuge

Addresses: Department of Bioengineering and Robotics, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-01, Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8579, Japan. ' Department of Bioengineering and Robotics, Tohoku University, Japan. ' Department of Bioengineering and Robotics, Tohoku University, Japan

Abstract: This paper introduces a passive wearable walking support system and proposes its control algorithm by using servo brake. According to the analysis of the walking of the human, we found that the joint moment around the knee joint is large for supporting the weight of the human during the walking. Consequently, this paper focuses on the development of the passive wearable device with servo brake and proposes the control method for supporting the weight of the user based on a human model. Experiments using the developed device also illustrate the validity of it.

Keywords: wearable walking support; walking analysis; stance phase support; passive robotics; servo brake control; human linkage models; model-based control; human motions; safety; knee joints; knee joint support; human modelling; passive wearable devices.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMS.2010.033189

International Journal of Mechatronics and Manufacturing Systems, 2010 Vol.3 No.3/4, pp.291 - 306

Published online: 10 May 2010 *

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