I designed a bilateral powered hip exoskeleton with two students in Dr. Meghan Huber's Human Robot Systems Lab. The exoskeleton can adjust for different hip sizes using a tightening hip and lower back brace and for various leg lengths using a pin locking mechanism. We use this exoskeleton to primarily test human adaptation in response to external perturbations (see publications). Therefore we designed the exo to be lightweight (~1.3 kg without batteries) and backdrivable (quasi-direct drive 6:1 actuators from Dephy, Inc, max continuous torque ~3.6 N-m).
We've found that by using this exoskeleton to induce asymmetry during treadmill walking, we can get a similar adaptation response to split-belt treadmill training in healthy individuals.
We've found that by using this exoskeleton to induce asymmetry during treadmill walking, we can get a similar adaptation response to split-belt treadmill training in healthy individuals.
Gait adaptation to asymmetric hip stiffness applied by a robotic exoskeleton
Banu Abdikadirova, Mark Price, Jonaz Moreno Jaramillo, Wouter Hoogkamer, Meghan E Huber
IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, IEEE, 2024
Banu Abdikadirova, Mark Price, Jonaz Moreno Jaramillo, Wouter Hoogkamer, Meghan E Huber
2023 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), IEEE, 2023, pp. 10457--10463
Unilateral stiffness modulation with a robotic hip exoskeleton elicits adaptation during gait
Mark Price, Banu Abdikadirova, Dominic Locurto, Jonaz Moreno Jaramillo, Nicholas Cline, Wouter Hoogkamer, Meghan E Huber
2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), IEEE, 2022, pp. 12275--12281