Dimensional synthesis of a lightweight shoulder exoskeleton

Powered exoskeletons can provide motion enhancement for both healthy and physically challenged people. Compared with lower limb exoskeletons, upper limb exoskeletons are required to have multiple degrees-of-freedom and can still produce sufficient augmentation force. Designs using serial mechanisms usually result in complicated and bulky exoskeletons that prevent themselves from being wearable. This paper presents a new exoskeleton aimed to achieve compactness and wearability. We consider a shoulder exoskeleton that consists of two spherical mechanisms with two slider crank mechanisms. The actuators can be made stationary and attached side-by-side, close to a human body. Thus better inertia properties can be obtained while maintaining lightweight. The dimensions of the exoskeleton are synthesized to achieve maximum output force. Through illustrations of a prototype, the exoskeleton is shown to be wearable and can provide adequate motion enhancement of a human's upper limb.