Reducing the metabolic cost of walking with an ankle exoskeleton: interaction between actuation timing and power.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Powered ankle-foot exoskeletons can reduce the metabolic cost of human walking to below normal levels, but optimal assistance properties remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to test the effects of different assistance timing and power characteristics in an experiment with a tethered ankle-foot exoskeleton.

Methods

Ten healthy female subjects walked on a treadmill with bilateral ankle-foot exoskeletons in 10 different assistance conditions. Artificial pneumatic muscles assisted plantarflexion during ankle push-off using one of four actuation onset timings (36, 42, 48 and 54% of the stride) and three power levels (average positive exoskeleton power over a stride, summed for both legs, of 0.2, 0.4 and 0.5 W∙kg^-1). We compared metabolic rate, kinem

SUBMITTER: Galle S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5408443 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature