Energy efficient lower-limb wearable robotic devices

行走，虽然一个健康的人很容易完成，但对于老年人或身体受损的人来说往往是一项困难的任务。随着老年人口的增加，对辅助设备的需求也越来越大，以改善他们的生活质量。长期目标是开发日常生活中使用的能效高的可穿戴式下肢机器人设备。我的一般假设是，通过有效地管理用户和机器人设备之间的双边机械能量交换，用户和机器人设备的能量消耗将会降低。具体地说，机器人设备将通过帮助用户的肌肉在行走过程中执行积极或消极的工作来帮助用户降低能量消耗，并且机器人设备将受益于获取否则由用户浪费的能量，从而实现降低的能量消耗。能量消耗的降低可以通过在步态周期的不同部分之间在一个关节内临时交换机械能来实现，或者通过在同一肢体的多个关节之间或跨肢体的空间重新分配机械能来实现。AIM 1设计了一种可穿戴的膝盖机器人装置，能够在步态周期的一个部分帮助膝盖运动，并在步态周期的其他部分收集能量。AIM 2开发了一种带有膝关节和髋关节的双关节可穿戴机器人设备，以允许这两个关节之间的能量交换。目标3开发了可穿戴机器人智能控制的实时行走速度和地形估计方法。拟议的研究结果将提供可直接帮助肢体残疾患者康复和改善行动能力的辅助技术，从而提高加拿大人的生活水平和生活质量。

Walking, while easily accomplished by a healthy individual, is often a difficult task for the elderly or physically impaired. With our elderly population increasing there is a growing demand for assistive devices to improve their quality of life. The long-term goal is to develop energy efficient wearable lower-limb robotic devices for use in everyday life. My general hypothesis is that the energy consumption of the user and the robotic device will decrease by effectively managing the bilateral mechanical energy exchange between them. Specifically, the robotic device will help the user to reduce the energy consumption by assisting his/her muscles in performing positive or negative work during walking and the robotic device will benefit from harvesting energy that otherwise wasted by the user and consequently achieve reduced energy consumption. The reduced energy consumption could be achieved either by exchanging mechanical energy temporally within one joint between different portions of a gait cycle or by redistributing mechanical energy spatially between multiple joints of the same limb or across limbs. Aim 1 designs a wearable knee robotic device that is capable of assisting knee motion in one portion of a gait cycle and harvesting energy in the other portions of the gait cycle. Aim 2 develops a bi-articular wearable robotic device with a knee joint and a hip joint to allow energy exchange between these two joints. Aim 3 develops real time walking speed and terrain estimation methods for wearable robot intelligent control. The results of the proposed research will provide assistive technologies could directly help physically impaired patients in their rehabilitation and improve mobility, thus leading to improvement in the standard of living and quality of life for Canadians.