An Knee Joint Exoskeleton Device Based on Biological Motion Principle

In this paper, it presents a knee joint exoskeleton device that is designed based on the biological motion principle of human knee joint. Since human joint has different muscle patterns (also called as powering pattern), the design of exoskeleton should not only consider aligning the instantaneous center of joint rotation, but also consider following the inherent human muscle pattern. In this paper, we investigate the powering pattern of knee joint in the process of walking. In order to follow the powering patterns of human walking, two one-way bearings and one set of gears are adopted to construct the knee joint exoskeleton device. That the experimental results based on the knee joint device show the proposed device that can adaptively imitate the biological motion of femoral-on-tibial extension and the biological motion of tibial-on-femoral flexion. The study shown in this paper reveal a new kind of human-machine interaction, which will be more effective than traditional interaction.