A Rigid-Soft Switchable Lower Body Exosuit for Lifting

Lower-limb assistive wearable exosuits can reduce occupational injuries of manual workers by assisting strenuous and repetitive lifting tasks. This study aims to develop a lower-limb assistive wearable exosuit using a mechanism called SwitchSpring to assist users during lifting. The base structure o...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Liu, Nai-Yu, Erpenback, Pablo Manuel Ramos, Arriagada, Sofia Ormazabal, Su, Pin-Hsuan, Tuan, Pham Anh, Yu, Cheng-Hao, Chang, Biing-Chwen
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Injuries
Manuals
Muscles
Radio frequency
Refining
Springs
Strain
Switches
Wearable robots
Wire
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Summary:Lower-limb assistive wearable exosuits can reduce occupational injuries of manual workers by assisting strenuous and repetitive lifting tasks. This study aims to develop a lower-limb assistive wearable exosuit using a mechanism called SwitchSpring to assist users during lifting. The base structure of the SwitchSpring functions as a spring rod and can switch between rigid and soft states by adjusting the cable tension on the rod. When the SwitchSpring is switched to its rigid state, the energy is harvested and released as the user squats down and stands up. The lower limb joint angles and muscle activations of a female subject lifting a 5 kg box with and without the device were measured. The results show that the SwitchSpring wearable robot manages to reduce the muscle activation level by up to 30% on the rectus femoris (RF), 35% on the biceps femoris (BF), and 37% on the tibialis anterior (TA), showing the potential of lower limb power assistance in lifting.
ISSN:2572-6919
DOI:10.1109/ARIS62416.2024.10679962