Optimized hip-knee-ankle exoskeleton assistance reduces the metabolic cost of walking with worn loads
Abstract
Load carriage is common in a wide range of professions, but prolonged load carriage is associated with increased fatigue and overuse injuries. Exoskeletons could improve the quality of life of these professionals by reducing metabolic cost to combat fatigue and reducing muscle activity to prevent injuries. Current exoskeletons have reduced the metabolic cost of loaded walking by up to 22% relative to walking in the device with no assistance when assisting one or two joints. Greater metabolic reductions may be possible with optimized assistance of the entire leg.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Nov 07, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.1186/s12984-021-00955-8
Entities
People
- Gwendolyn M. Bryan
- Karen N. Gregorczyk
- Meghan P. O’Donovan
- Patrick W. Franks
- Ricardo Reyes
- Seungmoon Song
- Steven H. Collins
Organizations
- Engineer Research and Development Center
- National Institutes of Health