Wearable Robots - Exoskeleton Suits

[Guest Mech Tech]

Raytheon Company’s newest research facility in Salt Lake City, Utah, is developing a robotic suit for the soldier of tomorrow. Known as the Exoskeleton, it’s essentially a wearable robot that amplifies its wearer’s strength, endurance, and agility. In its May issue, Popular Science magazine likens the Exoskeleton to the “Iron Man”® in the movie of the same name and suggests a blurring of the lines between science fiction and reality.

 

Built from a combination of sensors, actuators and controllers, the futuristic suit enables a user to easily carry a man on his back or lift 200 pounds several hundred times without tiring. Yet the suit, which is being developed for the U.S. Army, is also agile enough to let its wearer kick a soccer ball, punch a speed bag, and climb stairs and ramps with ease.

 

Dr. Stephen Jacobsen leads this project and the Raytheon Sarcos team. He feels his work is a combination of art, science, engineering and design. “People call it different things. Sometimes they call it inventing, sometimes they call it engineering. Sometimes they call it being a mad scientist. To us, it’s the process of getting together, understanding the problems, goals, and then designing something to satisfy the need.” Development of the Exoskeleton has been underway since 2000, when Jacobsen realized that if humans could work alongside robots, they should also be able to work inside robots.

 

Exoskeleton test engineer Rex Jameson echoes his boss’ enthusiasm for this work. “As far as software engineering goes, this job is about as good as it gets. We get to write programs and we see them working on actual robots; that’s very exciting.”

 

Jacobsen and his team take inspiration for their work from a wide variety of disparate sources, including popular culture. Asked if he will see the Iron Man movie when it’s released on May 2, he replied: “Yes, sure. I go to see all those movies. We all do. We all like them. They’re fun. They stimulate your imagination.

 

[Guest LAW_*]

An Exo Suit would be great for people with mobility problems.

 

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http://www.argomedtec.com/pdfs/Restoing_Mobilty.pdf

 

 

ReWalk™

 

ReWalk™ is a wearable, motorized quasi robotic suit. Partially concealable under clothing, ReWalk provides user-initiated mobility - leveraging advanced motion sensors, sophisticated robotic control algorithms, on-board computers, real-time software, actuation motors, tailored rechargeable batteries and composite materials.

 

ReWalk™ works with users – not just for them. Users walk with the assistance of crutches, controlling suit movement through subtle changes in center of gravity and upper-body movements. In addition to simplifying suit control, this user participation in mobility brings tangible health and emotional benefits. ReWalk™ is not just a vertical wheelchair – ReWalk™ restores the element of control over mobility so lacking for wheelchair users.

 

As any sedentary wheelchair user can attest, life in a wheelchair carries a hefty healthcare price tag. Serious problems with the urinary, respiratory, cardiovascular and digestive systems are common, as well as osteoporosis, pressure sores and other afflictions.

 

By maintaining users upright on a daily basis, and exercising even paralyzed limbs in the course of movement, ReWalk™ alleviates many of the health-related problems associated with long-term wheelchair use. In addition to relieving suffering, this has a real impact on healthcare costs – cutting yearly expenses almost in half, and enabling both insurers and individuals to redirect funds to other avenues.

 

Adoption of ReWalk™ by wheelchair users results in significant cost saving at both institutions and private homes. ReWalk™ makes standing devices, stair lifts, bed lifts, and other mobility assistance apparatus redundant. Similarly, ReWalk™ users don't require expensive powered wheelchairs – or the oversize vehicles and devices required to handle them. With ReWalk™, users require only minimal additional mobility assistance – saving tens of thousands of dollars yearly.

 

At institutions, ReWalk™ can serve as a robotic therapeutic or physical training device, used for intensive functional locomotion therapy. By replacing or supplementing expensive mechanized gait trainers, for example, ReWalk™ allows institutions to redirect significant budget resources for other therapeutic activities.

 

Functionality:

 

All day usage

Mobility – walking, sit-to-stand, stand-to-sit, climb stairs, ascending/descending slopes, driving

Training – replacing other training equipment at home and at rehabilitation center

Prerequisites:

 

Ability to use hand and shoulders (walking with crutches)

Healthy cardiovascular system and bone density

[Guest LAW_*]

Here is another suit I found.

 

The Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton (BLEEX), as it's officially called, consists of mechanical metal leg braces that are connected rigidly to the user at the feet, and, in order to prevent abrasion, more compliantly elsewhere. The device includes a power unit and a backpack-like frame used to carry a large load.

 

Such a machine could become an invaluable tool for anyone who needs to travel long distances by foot with a heavy load. The exoskeleton could eventually be used by army medics to carry injured soldiers off a battlefield, firefighters to haul their gear up dozens of flights of stairs to put out a high-rise blaze, or rescue workers to bring in food and first-aid supplies to areas where vehicles cannot enter.

 

"The fundamental technology developed here can also be developed to help people with limited muscle ability to walk optimally," said Kazerooni.

 

The researchers point out that the human pilot does not need a joystick, button or special keyboard to "drive" the device. Rather, the machine is designed so that the pilot becomes an integral part of the exoskeleton, thus requiring no special training to use it. In the UC Berkeley experiments, the human pilot moved about a room wearing the 100-pound exoskeleton and a 70-pound backpack while feeling as if he were lugging a mere 5 pounds.

 

The project, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, began in earnest in 2000. Next week, from March 9 through 11, Kazerooni and his research team will showcase their project at the DARPA Technical Symposium in Anaheim, Calif.

 

For the current model, the user steps into a pair of modified Army boots that are then attached to the exoskeleton. A pair of metal legs frames the outside of a person's legs to facilitate ease of movement. The wearer then dons the exoskeleton's vest that is attached to the backpack frame and engine. If the machine runs out of fuel, the exoskeleton legs can be easily removed so that the device converts to a large backpack.

 

More than 40 sensors and hydraulic actuators form a local area network (LAN) for the exoskeleton and function much like a human nervous system. The sensors, including some that are embedded within the shoe pads, are constantly providing the central computer brain information so that it can adjust the load based upon what the human is doing. When it is turned on, the exoskeleton is constantly calculating what it needs to do to distribute the weight so little to no load is imposed on the wearer.

 

"We are taking great pains to make this as practical and robust as possible for the wearer," said Kazerooni. "Several engineers around the world are working on motorized exoskeletons that can enhance human strength, but we've advanced our design to the point where a 'pilot' could strap on the external metal frame and walk in figure eights around a room. No one else has done that."

 

One significant challenge for the researchers was to design a fuel-based power source and actuation system that would provide the energy needed for a long mission. The UC Berkeley researchers are using an engine that delivers hydraulic power for locomotion and electrical power for the computer. The engine provides the requisite energy needed to power the exoskeleton while affording the ease of refueling in the field.

 

The current prototype allows a person to travel over flat terrain and slopes, but work on the exoskeleton is ongoing, with the focus turning to miniaturization of its components. The UC Berkeley engineers are also developing a quieter, more powerful engine, and a faster, more intelligent controller, that will enable the exoskeleton to carry loads up to 120 pounds within the next six months. In addition, the researchers are studying what it takes to enable pilots to run and jump with the exoskeleton legs.

 

The engineers point out that while the exoskeleton does the heavy lifting, the human contributes to the balance. "The pilot is not 'driving' the exoskeleton," said Kazerooni. "Instead, the control algorithms in the computer are constantly calculating how to move the exoskeleton so that it moves in concert with the human."

 

Appropriately enough, the first step in the project began with researchers analyzing the human step. They gathered information about how people walk and move - including the propulsive force and torque needed from the ankles and the shock absorbing power of the knees - so they could adapt the exoskeleton to a wide range of natural human movements.

 

"Many scientists and engineers have been attempting to build a robotic strength enhancing device since the 1950s, and they've failed," said Kazerooni. "It is only through recent engineering breakthroughs that this dream is now becoming a reality."