Our previous results indicated that when bilateral ankle exoskeletons produce ~65% of ankle joint power, the metabolic cost of level walking decreased by 13% (Sawicki et al., 2007). Because level, steady speed walking requires no net mechanical work over a stride, substituting biological muscle work with artificial muscle work may yield larger reductions in energy expenditure during locomotor tasks that require substantial positive muscle work. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of increasing surface incline on the metabolic cost of walking with robotic exoskeletons. We hypothesized that as surface gradient increased, ankle exoskeletons would deliver more mechanical power and users would save more metabolic energy.

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The development of innovative exoskeletons for the upper limb requires a strong collaboration between robotics and neuroscience. The robotic system will be deeply coupled to the human user and the exoskeleton design should be based on the human model in terms of biomechanics, and control and learning strategies. This paper presents the results of the design process of the NEUROExos exoskeleton. The catching of a moving object has been chosen as reference task from a neuroscience point of view and an ad-hoc setup has been designed and realized. Experiments has been per-formed and the obtained results has been used to design and develop a bioinspired two joints-two links ro-botic arm: the NEURArm platform. It has been developed for implementing bioinspired control strategies and for obtaining a human-like robotic arm to be used for assessing active exoskeletons in fully safe condi-tions. The main features of the NEUROExos elbow module platform and the on going activities related to human/machine interface are presented.

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Using CMU actuators, a Prototype of Mechanical Assis-tance Device for the Wrist’s Flexion Movement (PMA) was developed and probed in a mechanical model, in or-der to be implemented in a future as a dynamic powered orthosis or as a rehabilitation assistant instru-ment. Two Mayor Actuators conformed by three CMU actuators arranged in a series configuration, allows to an artificial hand to be placed in four predefined positions: 0º, 20º, 40º and 60º. The synchronism and control of the actuators is achieved with the Programmable Control Module (PCM). It is capable to drive up to six CMU actuators, and possess two different modes of execution: a Manual mode and an Exercise mode. In the Manual Mode, the position of the hand responds directly to the commands of the keyboard of the front panel, and in the Exercise mode, the hand realizes a repetitive and programmed movement. The prototype was tested in 100 positions in the Manual Mode and for 225 works cycles in the Exercise Mode. The relative re-petition error was less than 5% for both test. This prototype only consumes 4,15W, which makes it possible to be powered by small rechargeable batteries, allowing its use as a portable device.

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Exoskeleton robots are currently being developed in many research lab’s for the rehabilitation of patients suffering from injuries to the nervous system. A multitude of exoskeletons for interaction with the human limb are proposed for rehabilitation training, ranging from external, end-point based devices to wearable full limb exoskeletons. Their ability to smoothly interact with the human subject is crucial for successful application in physical therapy. It is important that devices interacting closely with a human limb are intrinsically safe, comfortable and are able to exploit the full range of natural motion for movement training. The two main aspects that need good consideration are the implementation of the actuation and motor control, as well as the intrinsic mecha-nical and kinematic design of their structure.

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The primary goal of bionics is “to extend man’s physical and intellec-tual capabilities by prosthetic devices in the most general sense” (Von Gierke et al. 1970; Dario et al. 1993)
Hybrid Bionic Systems (HBSs) can be defined generically as systems that contain both technical (artificial) and biological components, or biological systems with artificial elements or subsystems
The basic assumption for designing new HBSs is to bring together neuroscience knowledge on sensory-motor control with robotic and interfacing technologies, while keeping the human person at the centre of the design approach
This is the ultimate goal of the NEUROBOTICS project: the fusion of NEUROscience and roBOTICS), an “Integrated Project” funded by the European Commission (IST-FET-contract no. 001917-2003) and aimed at encouraging neuroscientists and roboticists to work together for jointly developing new, high performance HBSs

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