Abstract
This paper presents the mechanical design of an active hip and knee orthosis for rehabilitation applications. The exoskeleton device consists of two motorized joints providing 2 DOF per leg and can support a non-standard critical user (1.90 m in height and 100 kg in weight) in rehabilitation gait conditions (gait speed \(\approx \) 0.3 m/s). The work’s methodology is firstly established with literature review to explore relevant orthotic projects already developed. Then, project requirements are defined, including critical user conditions, joint restrictions and rehabilitation gait torques and angular motion. The exoskeleton’s structure is modelled following critical static and dynamic conditions and solved analytically for static failure and stiffness criteria. The actuation drive components are designed based in numerical modelling and also solved for static failure and stiffness criteria. The project’s mechanical components are then designed following the results once they reached acceptable safety levels. The mechanical components can be subdivided into three main groups: lumbar support, limb structural links and actuation drives. Those groups a integrated to construct a prototype of the orthotic device. The assembled prototype presented the aimed robustness when tested for basic motion control associated with a equivalent rehabilitation gait pattern with artificial loads. The test trials showed low levels of induced deflection and the actuation drive was able to replicate the torques required, therefore, making the orthosis to meet successfully the intended mechanical prerequisites.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Dollar AM, Herr H (2008) Lower extremity exoskeletons and active orthoses: challenges and state-of-the-art. IEEE Trans Robot 24:144–158
Cano BD, Cardiel E, Dominguéz G et al (2013) Design and simulation of an active bilateral orthosis for paraplegics. In: Proceedings of world congress on nature and biologically inspired Computing, pp 47–51
Gil J, Sánchez-Villamañan MC, Gómez J et al (2018) Design and implementation of a novel semi-active hybrid unilateral stance control knee ankle foot orthosis. In: IEEE Proceedings of international conference on intelligent robots and systems, pp 5163–5168
Shan H, Jiang C, Mao Y et al (2016) Design and control of a wearable active knee orthosis for walking assistance. In: IEEE Proceedings of international workshop on advanced motion control, pp 51–56
Saito Y, Kikuchi K, Negoto H et al, Development of externally powered lower limb orthosis with bilateral-servo actuator. In: IEEE Proceedings of international conference on rehabilitation robotics, pp 394–399
Christopher, Foundation Dana Reeve (2019) Stats about paralysis: prevalence of paralysis in the United States. Available on: https://www.christopherreeve.org/living-with-paralysis/stats-about-paralysis. Accessed on 10 De 2019
Villela F (2019) IBGE Brazilian Agency 2015 Survey at http://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/geral/noticia/2015-08/ibge-62-da-populacao-tem-algum-tipo-de-deficiencia. Accessed on 10 Dec 2019
Santos WM, Oliveira GC, Siqueira AAG (2016) Desenvolvimento de um exoesqueleto modular para membros inferiores. In: SBA Proceedings of Congresso Brasileiro de Automática, pp 1680–1685
IBGE Brazilian Agency 2009 Survey (2009) Antropometria e estado nutricional de crianças, adolescentes e adultos no Brasil
Aguilar-Sierra H,Yu W, Salazar S et al (2015) Design and control of hybrid actuation lower limb exoskeleton. Adv Mech Eng 7:1–13
Winter DA (2009) Biomechanics and motor control of human movement. Willey, Hoboken
Robbi DB (2018) Análise dinâmica de um exoesqueleto de membros inferiores utilizado no contexto de reabilitação de indivíduos com lesão medular, Monografia. Universidade de Bras ília, Bras ília, Brazil
Aliman N, Ramli R, Harris SM (2017) Design and development of lower limb exoskeletons: a survey. Robot Auton Syst 95:102–116
Freire JP, Bo APL, Rocha T (2018) Exosuit for alternative hip actuation: a proof of concept. In: Proceedings of 6o Encontro Nacional de Engenharia Biomecânica ENEBI, pp 79–85
Acknowledgements
The Authors thank CAPES and Laboratory of Embedded Systems and Integrated Circuits Applications (LEIA) for proving the necessary tools and finance that made this project successful.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Ethics declarations
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest and are the sole responsibles for the information presented in this work.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Freire, J.P.C.D. et al. (2022). Mechanical Design of an Active Hip and Knee Orthosis for Rehabilitation Applications. In: Bastos-Filho, T.F., de Oliveira Caldeira, E.M., Frizera-Neto, A. (eds) XXVII Brazilian Congress on Biomedical Engineering. CBEB 2020. IFMBE Proceedings, vol 83. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70601-2_97
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70601-2_97
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-70600-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-70601-2
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)