Developing a Climbing Assistive Exoskeleton*

Abstract

This paper presents a design of a climbing assistive exoskeleton (CAE) that reduces stress and strain on the fingers of a climber. Climbers routinely must support their entire body weight with their fingers. While human hands can accommodate climbing, experienced climbers are continuously testing the limits of their bodies, and hand injuries are both a frequent and severe occurrence. This device will help injured mountain climbers to continue training with reduced impact to their hand, and in turn increase climbing endurance and duration. Inexperienced climbers can also benefit from the device as they suffer from a lack of finger and hand muscle mass. This device will aid them in training safely and learn proper grips while developing their strength to be successful. The CAE is a glovelike device which can be slid on over the user's hand while climbing. The exoskeleton will have resistance bands going from the fingertips to the base of the hand, causing the hand to curl. This will create a constant passive force which will reduce the force normally directed through the pulleys and tendons while climbing. In the case of hand opening, the CAE has a motor that should assist the climber to overcome the passive force created by the bands. The glove is controlled through a microcontroller in real-time via feedback from electromyography sensors attached to the forearm of the climber. Our objective is to achieve a 20-40N reduction in force through the fingers while climbing per hand.