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Title: Design of a wearable shoulder exoskeleton robot with dual-purpose gravity compensation and a compliant misalignment compensation mechanism
Abstract This paper presents the design and validation of a wearable shoulder exoskeleton robot intended to serve as a platform for assistive controllers that can mitigate the risk of musculoskeletal disorders seen in workers. The design features a four-bar mechanism that moves the exoskeleton’s center of mass from the upper shoulders to the user’s torso, dual-purpose gravity compensation mechanism located inside the four-bar’s linkages that supports the full gravitational loading from the exoskeleton with partial user’s arm weight compensation, and a novel 6 degree-of-freedom (DoF) compliant misalignment compensation mechanism located between the end effector and the user’s arm to allow shoulder translation while maintaining control of the arm’s direction. Simulations show the four-bar design lowers the center of mass by$$ 11 $$ cm and the kinematic chain can follow the motion of common upper arm trajectories. Experimental tests show the gravity compensation mechanism compensates gravitational loading within$$ \pm 0.5 $$ Nm over the range of shoulder motion and the misalignment compensation mechanism has the desired 6 DoF stiffness characteristics and range of motion to adjust for shoulder center translation. Finally, a workspace admittance controller was implemented and evaluated showing the system is capable of accurately reproducing simulated impedance behavior with transparent low-impedance human operation.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1925110
PAR ID:
10590125
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Cambridge University Press
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Wearable Technologies
Volume:
5
ISSN:
2631-7176
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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