Book Chapter

Compliant lightweight actuator designs for robotic assistance and rehabilitation exoskeletons

D Lefeber, M Moltedo, T Bacek, K Langlois, K Junius, B Vanderborght

Biosystems and Biorobotics | Biosystems and Biorobotics | SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING AG | Published : 2017

Abstract

This paper presents the design of a compliant, lightweight and adaptable active ankle foot orthosis (AAFO) and two iterations of the conceptual design of an active knee actuator. The actuators are designed to keep their torque to weight as low as possible. The adaptability of the AAFO allows adjusting the device to different patients, without the need of customized versions. The knee actuators are designed for 2 exoskeleton prototypes that will be used for assistance of people with muscle weakness and for gait rehabilitation of incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI) patients.

University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Jinan Science and Technology Bureau


Funding Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the European Commission's 7th Framework Program as part of the project BioMot (Grant Agreement number IFP7-ICT-2013-10-611695), by the Flemish agency for Innovation by Science and Technology as part of the project MIRAD (IWT-SBO 120057) and by the FWO grant (no.G026214N).