In this paper it is shown how variation of the kinematic structure of an arm exoskeleton and variation of its fixation pressure on the human limb influences subjectively perceived task performance, such as comfort and the individual indices of the NASA TLX rating scale. It is shown by experimental results that the attachment pressure has a dominant effect on perceived comfort, mental load, physical demand and effort experienced by subjects and is optimal within a range of 10 30 mmHg. Furthermore, it is shown that the inclusion of passive compensatory joints inside an exoelectrons structure can reduce mental demand during a tracking task. When the outcome of this paper is interpreted in combination with a set of objective performance results that were presented earlier , the subjective performance metrics underline the fact that passive compensatory joints paired with an attachment pressure of 20 mmHg increase ergonomics and provide optimal conditions for task performance and comfort.

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We address an exoskeletal type haptic device which helps the human actively feel the sense of touch in palmar and dorsal directions. The device consisting of two finger-like parts taken by thumb and index finger, is designed in modular type to expand easily for five fingers. The proposed device is semi-directly driven by ultrasonic motors which have high power-to-weight ratio, and it provides haptic feedback to each joint of fingers. Methods for measuring the angular displacements and torques of the fingers are proposed and basic experiments are performed to verify the effectiveness of the system

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In this paper, a model based interactive torque estimation method for exoskeletons is proposed. For this purpose, the dynamic model based disturbance observer (DOB) is adopted to estimate the interactive torque instead of using force/torque sensors. Also, a parameter identification method is applied to enhance the precision of estimated torque against various uncertainties in the dynamic model. In order to classify interactive torque from the estimated disturbance signal of DOB, the information on generated actuator torque is required. By the actuator impedance model, the generated actuator torque can be estimated precisely. The proposed methods were implemented in SUBAR (Sogang University’s Biomedical Assist Robot) and verified by experiments.

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This paper describes a novel ground development facility that is currently being built at the European Space Agency. The facility can be used to develop and test new man-machine interfaces for tele-control of dexterous space manipulators. Furthermore, the facility allows comparing performance of existing input devices, such as conventional joysticks, with novel devices, such as exoskeletons. The ground testbed allows conducting tele-manipulation experiments with a real robot and to measure performance metrics during remote operations. The experimental comparisons planned to be undertaken with the test-bed are outlined

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It is well-known that virtual reality (VR) is a powerful and promising computer-based technology for the motor recovery in stroke patients. The importance of using VR into arm rehabilitation has coined it as clinical VR; where its main sake is to improve the recovery process of post-stroke patients. In this regard, physical therapy and occupational therapy are provided by such technology. As we shall see into this contribution, interesting clinical VR applications have been designed for handling effectively the brain plasticity in chronic stroke patients. To this end, we use the so-called Light¿Exoskeleton which has been presented for arm-robotic therapy such that it serves as the kinesthetic feedback stimulator for assisting the patient during the rehabilitation sessions.

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