Strength Enhancer Exoskeleton for Leg (SEEL)
NEW Introduction
To develop a pneumatic & mechanical exoskeleton that aids a person with Leg extension from squat position to standing position or from sitting position to standing position. The exoskeleton degree range of movement are develop in respect to the bio mechanics of a human body. The exoskeleton placement will be mounted on the human leg in respect to the anthropomorphic human body shape. Mechanical passive aid will be added to the certain part of an exoskeleton to minimize the power supply consumption. This mechanical passive aid will be triggered when the sensors applied on the body gives enough control input. The actuators that will be used on the exoskeleton will be pneumatic muscle. Pneumatic is use because of the the characteristic of; high strength to weight ration, fast pick up from relaxation to contraction, and small restrictive hindrance when off. Pneumatic muscle actuators will come into the play when the user has reach the set value control from the sensor placed on the leg or when the user trigger is via switch. Therefore saving on the power supply as the exoskeleton will only work when needed.
The sensor are EMG sensor and flex sensor. Both sensor will work together to provide average data for the set of movement that the SEE needs to perform.
To prevent fatal injuries the frame will have a limited range selected by the user. Mechanical quick release will be incorporated on the SEE in case of emergency.
OLD Introduction
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Development of an exoskeleton that assist the user with passive or enhance walking. The exoskeleton will be able to provide added balance control to user that has leg problems. It will also feature passive control and boosted control. Passive control changes the exoskeleton behavior to lightly aid the user with walking. Boosted control enable a quicker sensor signal pick up of the exoskeleton, changing the behavior of the exoskeleton to be more abrupt and full fast extension.
The exoskeleton will be control using two sensors. The primary sensor involves EMG signal which is picked up from a selected voluntary muscle. The secondary sensor is a flex sensor, located on the user’s selected knee. The read in data is later converted to a usable data that can be applied as a control for the electro-pneumatic system. To prevent fatal injuries the frame will have a limited range selected by the user.
Objective
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Develop a mechanical aid for the exoskeleton. It will be triggered on by a small pneumatic actuators.
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Develop a pneumatic system to aid leg extension
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Incorporate mechanical quick release for the user get out of the exoskeleton.
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Develop a LabView code to read in the sensor data and convert it to a control input for the pneumatic system.
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