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Functional Evaluation of a Force Sensor-Controlled Upper-Limb Power-Assisted Exoskeleton with High Backdrivability

A power-assisted exoskeleton should be capable of reducing the burden on the wearer’s body or rendering his or her work improved and efficient. More specifically, the exoskeleton should be easy to wear, be simple to use, and provide power assistance without hindering the wearer’s movement. Therefore...

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Autores principales: Liu, Chang, Liang, Hongbo, Ueda, Naoya, Li, Peirang, Fujimoto, Yasutaka, Zhu, Chi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7664921/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33182271
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s20216379
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author Liu, Chang
Liang, Hongbo
Ueda, Naoya
Li, Peirang
Fujimoto, Yasutaka
Zhu, Chi
author_facet Liu, Chang
Liang, Hongbo
Ueda, Naoya
Li, Peirang
Fujimoto, Yasutaka
Zhu, Chi
author_sort Liu, Chang
collection PubMed
description A power-assisted exoskeleton should be capable of reducing the burden on the wearer’s body or rendering his or her work improved and efficient. More specifically, the exoskeleton should be easy to wear, be simple to use, and provide power assistance without hindering the wearer’s movement. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the backdrivability, range of motion, and power-assist capability of such an exoskeleton. This evaluation identifies the pros and cons of the exoskeleton, and it serves as the basis for its subsequent development. In this study, a lightweight upper-limb power-assisted exoskeleton with high backdrivability was developed. Moreover, a motion capture system was adopted to measure and analyze the workspace of the wearer’s upper limb after the exoskeleton was worn. The results were used to evaluate the exoskeleton’s ability to support the wearer’s movement. Furthermore, a small and compact three-axis force sensor was used for power assistance, and the effect of the power assistance was evaluated by means of measuring the wearer’s surface electromyography, force, and joint angle signals. Overall, the study showed that the exoskeleton could achieve power assistance and did not affect the wearer’s movements.
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spelling pubmed-76649212020-11-14 Functional Evaluation of a Force Sensor-Controlled Upper-Limb Power-Assisted Exoskeleton with High Backdrivability Liu, Chang Liang, Hongbo Ueda, Naoya Li, Peirang Fujimoto, Yasutaka Zhu, Chi Sensors (Basel) Article A power-assisted exoskeleton should be capable of reducing the burden on the wearer’s body or rendering his or her work improved and efficient. More specifically, the exoskeleton should be easy to wear, be simple to use, and provide power assistance without hindering the wearer’s movement. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the backdrivability, range of motion, and power-assist capability of such an exoskeleton. This evaluation identifies the pros and cons of the exoskeleton, and it serves as the basis for its subsequent development. In this study, a lightweight upper-limb power-assisted exoskeleton with high backdrivability was developed. Moreover, a motion capture system was adopted to measure and analyze the workspace of the wearer’s upper limb after the exoskeleton was worn. The results were used to evaluate the exoskeleton’s ability to support the wearer’s movement. Furthermore, a small and compact three-axis force sensor was used for power assistance, and the effect of the power assistance was evaluated by means of measuring the wearer’s surface electromyography, force, and joint angle signals. Overall, the study showed that the exoskeleton could achieve power assistance and did not affect the wearer’s movements. MDPI 2020-11-09 /pmc/articles/PMC7664921/ /pubmed/33182271 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s20216379 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Liu, Chang
Liang, Hongbo
Ueda, Naoya
Li, Peirang
Fujimoto, Yasutaka
Zhu, Chi
Functional Evaluation of a Force Sensor-Controlled Upper-Limb Power-Assisted Exoskeleton with High Backdrivability
title Functional Evaluation of a Force Sensor-Controlled Upper-Limb Power-Assisted Exoskeleton with High Backdrivability
title_full Functional Evaluation of a Force Sensor-Controlled Upper-Limb Power-Assisted Exoskeleton with High Backdrivability
title_fullStr Functional Evaluation of a Force Sensor-Controlled Upper-Limb Power-Assisted Exoskeleton with High Backdrivability
title_full_unstemmed Functional Evaluation of a Force Sensor-Controlled Upper-Limb Power-Assisted Exoskeleton with High Backdrivability
title_short Functional Evaluation of a Force Sensor-Controlled Upper-Limb Power-Assisted Exoskeleton with High Backdrivability
title_sort functional evaluation of a force sensor-controlled upper-limb power-assisted exoskeleton with high backdrivability
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7664921/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33182271
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s20216379
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