Towards an Ergonomic Exoskeleton Structure: Automated Design of Individual Elbow Joints

Christina M. Hein, Paul A. Maroldt, Sandra V. Brecht, Handan Oezgoecen, Tim C. Lueth

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Exoskeletons strive to help during the rehabilitation of neurological patients or to support people performing work of high physical effort. Common orthoses or exoskeletons represent the elbow joint by a simple revolute joint. However, the actual movement of gliding bones is a three dimensional motion. In order to prevent kinematic incompatibilities, we propose an automated process to manufacture individual joints. This paper describes a mathematical model of the elbow movement with two degrees of freedom (DoF), which also considers soft tissue movement and the changing angle between upper arm and forearm (carrying angle). The measurement of the flexion-extension movement for seven participants indicated that there are highly individual movement characteristics. We introduced a design process for individual joints which consists of several steps. First of all, the motion of the elbow joint was captured using an electromagnetic tracking system, then the data was processed, and an individual cam mechanism was synthesized. These calculated parameters were transferred to a parametric construction, and the exoskeleton was produced using additive manufacturing. Our experiment showed that the individual joint represented the soft tissue movement and changing of the carrying angle, but it partly suppressed the hysteresis between the flexion and extension movement.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationBIOROB 2018 - 7th IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages646-652
Number of pages7
ISBN (Electronic)9781538681831
DOIs
StatePublished - 9 Oct 2018
Event7th IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, BIOROB 2018 - Enschede, Netherlands
Duration: 26 Aug 201829 Aug 2018

Publication series

NameProceedings of the IEEE RAS and EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics
Volume2018-August
ISSN (Print)2155-1774

Conference

Conference7th IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, BIOROB 2018
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityEnschede
Period26/08/1829/08/18

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Towards an Ergonomic Exoskeleton Structure: Automated Design of Individual Elbow Joints'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this