Mechatronic Design of a Shank-Free Bilateral Exoskeleton for Loaded Walking

The shank-free exoskeleton is proposed to increase the strength and endurance of the human during loaded walking. It interfaced with the human via back-waist belts and thigh cuffs, without physical coupling with the biological human shank. Instead of the traditional ankle-foot design, we employed a robotic shank driven by a linear actuator to achieve gravity support. The bilateral design of the exoskeleton was symmetrical, and the mechatronic design of the exoskeleton was described in detail. Metabolic expenditure measurement experiments were conducted on three able-bodied subjects walking with 27.1 kg of carried mass (including 15.5 kg of the exoskeleton), and the results exhibited an average metabolic reduction of 10.94%, comparing exoskeleton worn powered versus unpowered. This study introduces a potential way for load-carrying augmentation.