Exoskeletons need to react faster than physiological responses to improve standing balance.

ABSTRACT: Maintaining balance throughout daily activities is challenging because of the unstable nature of the human body. For instance, a person's delayed reaction times limit their ability to restore balance after disturbances. Wearable exoskeletons have the potential to enhance user balance after a disturbance by reacting faster than physiologically possible. However, "artificially fast" balance-correcting exoskeleton torque may interfere with the user's ensuing physiological responses, consequently hindering the overall reactive balance response. Here, we show that exoskeletons need to react faster than physiological responses to improve standing balance after postural perturbations. Delivering ankle exoskeleton torque before the onset of physiological reactive joint moments improved standing ba

SUBMITTER: Beck ON 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10169237 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature