Journal of Chongqing University of Technology(Natural Science) ›› 2023, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (4): 329-338.

• “23rd International Conference of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Control Engineering” Special Column • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Biomechanical effect evaluation for a passive arm-assisted exoskeleton

  

  • Online:2023-05-06 Published:2023-05-06

Abstract: This paper proposes a set of test methods for passive arm-assisted exoskeleton, and evaluates the designed passive arm-assisted exoskeleton. Firstly, a theoretical model of human lifting motion is constructed, and characteristics of the elbow angle and moment are analyzed. Then, repeated lifting and weight-holding standing experiments are designed to respectively measure the electromyographic signals of the main arm muscle groups and the metabolic level of the human body to verify the auxiliary effect of the passive exoskeleton on transportation. In the repeated lifting experiments, wearing the exoskeleton significantly reduces the muscle activity of the arms during elbow flexion. In the weight-holding standing experiments, when a man holds something with a weight of 10 kg, energy consumption of the human body reduces by 18.86% on average; when a man holds something with a weight of 15 kg, energy consumption reduces by 23.87% on average. In addition, the changing trend implies that the assisting effect of the exoskeleton is positively correlated with the changing trend of the material with a weight range of 5 to 15 kg in the weight-holding standing state. The proposed method can effectively evaluate the performance of the passive arm exoskeleton. The passive arm-assisted exoskeleton effectively reduces the muscle activity of the arms during repeated lifting and elbow flexion, and reduces the overall metabolic cost of the wearer during weight-holding standing.

CLC Number: 

  • TP242