Kinematics and Design of a Leg Exoskeleton for Human Motion Assistance

This paper presents studies concerning the design of exoskeletons for human lower limb motion assistance. A study concerning the structural and mechanical design in Solid Works is presented on the first part of the paper. In the second part, a human gait motion analysis with goniometer sensors is performed. Also, a kinematic characterization for the new proposed leg exoskeleton is performed. The exoskeleton achieved design is based on a seven-link mechanism, designed to accomplish requirements of human locomotion. The kinematic computational model and the obtained results with plots in ADAMS software are presented. The obtained simulation results are compared with experimental human gait, and they are useful to characterize the exoskeleton motion and to demonstrate suitable performance for human rehabilitation purposes.