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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