In this paper, a wearable exoskeleton leg conceived and designed to augment human’s walking ability is proposed. The ultimate goal of this project is to provide an insight into the methodology of designing and controlling a power assist system, which integrates human’s intellect as the central control system for manipulating the wearable anthropomorphic device. The whole process of design, construction and control of a prototype experimental exoskeleton is presented; the feasibility and performance of the novel ANFIS (adaptive-network-based fuzzy inference system) based control algorithm are studied followed by the conclusion as well as an outline of anticipated future research.

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(EN)When a wearer (12) wears a behavior help wear (18), calibration control means (162) of a behavior help device (10) applies a drive force from a drive source (140) as a load (input torque) to the wearer (12) by load generation means (164). The wearer (12) to whom the drive force from the drive source (140) is given performs a predetermined calibration operation and generates a force from his/her skeletal muscles. The muscle potential signal accompanying the calibration operation is detected by biometric signal detection means (144). Parameter correction means (156) corrects a parameter (K) according to the difference between the load (input torque) and the muscular force corresponding to the muscle potential signal, thereby correcting the help power in accordance with the biometric signal detection sensitivity so as to reduce the load on the wearer.
(FR)Lorsqu’un porteur (12) porte un système d’aide au comportement (18), la méthode de contrôle du calibrage (162) d’un dispositif d’aide du comportement (10) applique une force directrice depuis une source directrice (140) sous forme de charge (couple d’entrée) sur le porteur (12) par une méthode de génération de charge (164). Le porteur (12) qui reçoit la force directrice de la source directrice (140) procède à une opération de calibrage prédéterminée et génère une force à partir de ses muscles squelettiques. Le signal du potentiel de muscle accompagnant l’opération de calibrage est détecté par une méthode de détection du signal biométrique (144). La méthode de correction des paramètres (156) corrige un paramètre (K) en fonction de la différence entre la charge (couple d’entrée) et la force musculaire correspondant au signal de potentiel du muscle, corrigeant ainsi la puissance d’aide conformément à la sensibilité de détection du signal biométrique de manière à réduire la charge sur le porteur.

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Integrating human and robot into a single system offers remarkable opportunities for creating a new generation of assistive technology. Having obvious applications in rehabilitation medicine and virtual reality simulation, such a device would benefit both the healthy and disabled population. The aim of the research is to study the kinematics and the dynamics of the human arm during daily activities in a free and unconstrained environment as part of an on-going research involved in the design of a 7 degree of freedom (DOF) powered exoskeleton for the upper limb. The kinematics of the upper limb was acquired with a motion capture system while performing a wide verity of daily activities. Utilizing a model of the human as a 7 DOF system, the equations of motion were used to calculate joint torques given the arm kinematics. During positioning tasks, higher angular velocities were observed in the gross manipulation joints (the shoulder and elbow) as compared to the fine manipulation joints (the wrist). An inverted phenomenon was observed during fine manipulation in which the angular velocities of the wrist joint exceeded the angular velocities of the shoulder and elbow joints. Analyzing the contribution of individual terms of the arm’s equations of motion indicate that the gravitational term is the most dominant term in these equations. The magnitudes of this term across the joints and the various actions is higher than the inertial, centrifugal, and Coriolis terms combined. Variation in object grasping (e.g. power grasp of a spoon) alters the overall arm kinematics in which other joints, such as the shoulder joint, compensate for lost dexterity of the wrist. The collected database along with the kinematics and dynamic analysis may provide the fundamental understanding for designing powered exoskeleton for the human arm.

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Вы обращали внимание, как дёргается тяжёлый рюкзак за плечами, когда вы идёте бодрой пружинистой походкой? Американский биолог, что интересно, специалист в изучении движений человека, однажды подумал – «А чего он дёргается понапрасну?».

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The present invention relates to electroactive polymers that are pre-strained to improve conversion from electrical to mechanical energy. When a voltage is applied to electrodes contacting a pre-strained polymer, the polymer deflects. This deflection may be used to do mechanical work. The pre-strain improves the mechanical response of an electroactive polymer. The present invention also relates to actuators including an electroactive polymer and mechanical coupling to convert deflection of the polymer into mechanical work. The present invention further relates to compliant electrodes that conform to the shape of a polymer. The present invention provides methods for fabricating electromechanical devices including one or more electroactive polymers.

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