Currently, full body exoskeletons still lack movabili-ty in their back and shoulder parts, resulting in limited applicability in, e.g., nursing care. An exoske-letal spine and shoulder mechanism called “exo-spine” has therefore been developed with the purpose of allowing 3 degree of freedom (DOF) spinal motion and 2 DOF shoulder girdle abduction. It consists of a mechanism of vertebras, shoulder blades, and two cables for actuation such that only one motor is requir-ed. Control equations were obtained through measurements and friction analysis. Experiments were performed with a subject wearing the exo-spine in a simplified full body exoskeleton. The wearer was able to lift up to 40 kg using all DOF of the system. From this we confirmed the exo-spine’s 5 DOF movability and lifting performance. Next, the exo-spine will be installed in HAL exoskeletons in order to increase their usabili-ty in health care settings.

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