Turning a Passive Exosuit Active
Session Number
Project ID: ENGN 09
Advisor(s)
Myuhnghee Kim, University of Illinois at Chicago
Discipline
Engineering
Start Date
17-4-2024 8:35 AM
End Date
17-4-2024 8:50 AM
Abstract
Walking is a crucial part of anyone’s everyday life, providing one with the ability to complete tasks and activities individually. However, some people cannot use this ability to its full potential given certain challenges such as the loss of muscle control and a decrease in strength, caused by old age or diseases. Through studies, it has been proven that exosuits can provide a person with enough assistance to reduce metabolic costs and muscle activity, for faster and safer healing. The current passive exosuit used to relieve this stress was derived from a study to enhance the performance and effectiveness of the suit to be more comfortable and effective for users. The benefit of exosuits increases through autonomous assistance. Soft active exosuits aim to autonomously assist the subject through lightweight active actuation by transmitting assistive torque to the subject's joints. Due to this new form of wearing exosuits, the current state-of-the-art passive exosuits must be modified to incorporate Bowden and wire cables. Through the research of old studies and the usage of computer-aided design, we were able to craft a prototype active suit that slightly altered the current state-of-the-art suit.
Turning a Passive Exosuit Active
Walking is a crucial part of anyone’s everyday life, providing one with the ability to complete tasks and activities individually. However, some people cannot use this ability to its full potential given certain challenges such as the loss of muscle control and a decrease in strength, caused by old age or diseases. Through studies, it has been proven that exosuits can provide a person with enough assistance to reduce metabolic costs and muscle activity, for faster and safer healing. The current passive exosuit used to relieve this stress was derived from a study to enhance the performance and effectiveness of the suit to be more comfortable and effective for users. The benefit of exosuits increases through autonomous assistance. Soft active exosuits aim to autonomously assist the subject through lightweight active actuation by transmitting assistive torque to the subject's joints. Due to this new form of wearing exosuits, the current state-of-the-art passive exosuits must be modified to incorporate Bowden and wire cables. Through the research of old studies and the usage of computer-aided design, we were able to craft a prototype active suit that slightly altered the current state-of-the-art suit.