Optimal Design of a Multipurpose Test Stand for RoboWalk Assistive Device

The user safety in wearable robotics is an inevitable major issue. In this paper, to ensure the proper performance of the various components of lower-limb wearable robots, a multipurpose test stand for the stance leg is designed for the first time and presented for RoboWalk. This multipurpose test stand is developed to simulate the performance of a stance leg motion during different walking gaits with manually controlled various speeds. The design procedure of different subsystems including the main body, human-robot interaction force measuring unit, power transmission unit, ankle path (gait) production mechanism, and the electronics of the test stand are expressed in detail. Eventually, the entire system is evaluated dynamically using the ADAMS multibody dynamics simulation software, which reveals the merits of the designed multipurpose test stand.