Symbitron Exoskeleton: Design, control, and evaluation of a modular exoskeleton for incomplete and complete spinal cord injured individuals

In this paper, we present the design, control, and preliminary evaluation of the Symbitron exoskeleton, a lower limb modular exoskeleton developed for people with a spinal cord injury. The mechanical and electrical configuration and the controller can be personalized to accommodate differences in impairments among individuals with spinal cord...

A MUltidimensional Compliant Decoupled Actuator (MUCDA) for pelvic support during gait

Series Elastic Actuation decouples actuator inertia from the interaction ports and is thus advantageous for force-controlled devices. Parallel or even passive compliance can fulfill a complementary role by compensating for gravitational or periodic inertial forces or by providing passive guidance. Here, these concepts are combined in an...

Towards teleoperation with human-like dynamics: Human use of elastic tools

Variable stiffness actuators undergo lower peak force in contacts compared to their rigid counterparts, and are thus safer for human-robot interaction. Furthermore, they can store energy in their elastic element and can release it later to achieve human-like dynamic movements. However, it is not clear how to integrate them in teleoperator...