Wearable ankle assistance robot for a human walking with different loads

Abstract. To reduce energy consumption while a human is walking with different loads, an active energy storage mechanism and a gait cycle prediction method are proposed, and then a wearable ankle assistance robot is developed. A motor, a clutch, and elastic rods are placed strategically in the active energy storage mechanism to achieve energy storage and release. During the period when the ankle does not generate torque, the clutch is closed, and the elastic rods are driven by the motor to produce deformation for energy storage. When the ankle generates torque, the motor is stopped and the clutch is opened, and then energy is released. Assisted force is transmitted to the human heel by a flexible transmission device to achieve walking assistance. The deformation length of the elastic rods can be changed to achieve assisted force adjustment for different loads. Based on the hip angular displacement and heel pressure, the gait cycle can be obtained with the proposed prediction method, and then assistance control can be achieved. Consequently, the development of a wearable ankle assistance robot is realized, a walking assistance experiment with different loads is completed, and the net metabolic cost is used to indicate the energy consumption. The experimental results show that the net metabolic cost of the participants is reduced by averages of 5.30 %, 5.67 %, and 4.84 % with 0, 4, and 8 kg loads respectively. The reduced net metabolic costs are compared with other research results; the reduced net metabolic costs are close to the others, but the motor power in this work is lower.