Achilles: An autonomous lightweight ankle exoskeleton to provide push-off power

Cor Meijneke; Wietse van Dijk; Herman van der Kooij

doi:10.1109/BIOROB.2014.6913898

Achilles: An autonomous lightweight ankle exoskeleton to provide push-off power

Cor Meijneke, Wietse van Dijk, Herman van der Kooij

Faculty of Engineering Technology

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

41 Citations (Scopus)

139 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This paper presents the Achilles exoskeleton, an autonomous ankle exoskeleton that can generate 52% of the positive plantarflexion power around the ankle of a 80 kg individual with only 1.5 kg of mass added around the ankle joint. The mass of the exoskeleton is lower and the power density is higher than that of existing autonomous exoskeletons. This high power density was achieved by designing a series elastic actuator that consists of an electric motor and ball-screw gear with a carbon fiber reinforced leaf-spring as lever-arm. A dynamic model that includes the motor and gear properties, spring stiffness, and exoskeleton geometry was used to optimize the design parameters for positive power injection. Doing this for multiple combinations of preselected motors and gears and comparing their support to weight ratio, revealed the best drive combination. The performance of the realized exoskeleton was assessed in several tests. The actuator can track the optimized actuator stroke trajectory with a following error that has a RMS of 2.3 mm, it can track force reference signals with amplitudes of 1 N to 100 N with a bandwidth between 8.1 Hz and 20.6 Hz, and it outputs a maximum mechanical power of 80.2 W. These results show that the device is suitable for fulfilling its purpose: reducing the metabolic cost of walking with an autonomous device.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	5th IEEE RAS and EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, BioRob 2014; Sao Paulo; Brazil; 12-15 August 2014; Category numberCFP14BRB-PRT; Code 109564
Place of Publication	Piscataway, NJ
Publisher	IEEE
Pages	918-923
ISBN (Electronic)	978-1-4799-3128-6
ISBN (Print)	978-147993126-2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/BIOROB.2014.6913898
Publication status	Published - 12 Aug 2014
Event	5th IEEE RAS & EMBS Interantional Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, BioRob 2014 - Palacio das Convenções Anhembi, Sao Paulo, Brazil Duration: 12 Aug 2014 → 15 Aug 2014 Conference number: 5

Publication series

Name	IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics
Publisher	IEEE
Number	5
Volume	2014
ISSN (Print)	2155-1774
ISSN (Electronic)	2155-1782

Conference

Conference	5th IEEE RAS & EMBS Interantional Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, BioRob 2014
Abbreviated title	BioRob
Country/Territory	Brazil
City	Sao Paulo
Period	12/08/14 → 15/08/14

Keywords

2023 OA procedure

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1109/BIOROB.2014.6913898

ArticleFinal published version, 1.15 MBLicence: Taverne

Cite this

Meijneke, C., van Dijk, W., & van der Kooij, H. (2014). Achilles: An autonomous lightweight ankle exoskeleton to provide push-off power. In 5th IEEE RAS and EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, BioRob 2014; Sao Paulo; Brazil; 12-15 August 2014; Category numberCFP14BRB-PRT; Code 109564 (pp. 918-923). (IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics; Vol. 2014, No. 5). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/BIOROB.2014.6913898

Meijneke, Cor ; van Dijk, Wietse ; van der Kooij, Herman. / Achilles: An autonomous lightweight ankle exoskeleton to provide push-off power. 5th IEEE RAS and EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, BioRob 2014; Sao Paulo; Brazil; 12-15 August 2014; Category numberCFP14BRB-PRT; Code 109564. Piscataway, NJ : IEEE, 2014. pp. 918-923 (IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics; 5).

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title = "Achilles: An autonomous lightweight ankle exoskeleton to provide push-off power",

abstract = "This paper presents the Achilles exoskeleton, an autonomous ankle exoskeleton that can generate 52% of the positive plantarflexion power around the ankle of a 80 kg individual with only 1.5 kg of mass added around the ankle joint. The mass of the exoskeleton is lower and the power density is higher than that of existing autonomous exoskeletons. This high power density was achieved by designing a series elastic actuator that consists of an electric motor and ball-screw gear with a carbon fiber reinforced leaf-spring as lever-arm. A dynamic model that includes the motor and gear properties, spring stiffness, and exoskeleton geometry was used to optimize the design parameters for positive power injection. Doing this for multiple combinations of preselected motors and gears and comparing their support to weight ratio, revealed the best drive combination. The performance of the realized exoskeleton was assessed in several tests. The actuator can track the optimized actuator stroke trajectory with a following error that has a RMS of 2.3 mm, it can track force reference signals with amplitudes of 1 N to 100 N with a bandwidth between 8.1 Hz and 20.6 Hz, and it outputs a maximum mechanical power of 80.2 W. These results show that the device is suitable for fulfilling its purpose: reducing the metabolic cost of walking with an autonomous device.",

keywords = "2023 OA procedure",

author = "Cor Meijneke and {van Dijk}, Wietse and {van der Kooij}, Herman",

year = "2014",

month = aug,

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doi = "10.1109/BIOROB.2014.6913898",

language = "English",

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series = "IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics",

publisher = "IEEE",

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booktitle = "5th IEEE RAS and EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, BioRob 2014; Sao Paulo; Brazil; 12-15 August 2014; Category numberCFP14BRB-PRT; Code 109564",

address = "United States",

note = "5th IEEE RAS & EMBS Interantional Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, BioRob 2014, BioRob ; Conference date: 12-08-2014 Through 15-08-2014",

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Meijneke, C, van Dijk, W & van der Kooij, H 2014, Achilles: An autonomous lightweight ankle exoskeleton to provide push-off power. in 5th IEEE RAS and EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, BioRob 2014; Sao Paulo; Brazil; 12-15 August 2014; Category numberCFP14BRB-PRT; Code 109564. IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, no. 5, vol. 2014, IEEE, Piscataway, NJ, pp. 918-923, 5th IEEE RAS & EMBS Interantional Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, BioRob 2014, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 12/08/14. https://doi.org/10.1109/BIOROB.2014.6913898

Achilles: An autonomous lightweight ankle exoskeleton to provide push-off power. / Meijneke, Cor; van Dijk, Wietse; van der Kooij, Herman.
5th IEEE RAS and EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, BioRob 2014; Sao Paulo; Brazil; 12-15 August 2014; Category numberCFP14BRB-PRT; Code 109564. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, 2014. p. 918-923 (IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics; Vol. 2014, No. 5).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

TY - GEN

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AU - van Dijk, Wietse

AU - van der Kooij, Herman

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N2 - This paper presents the Achilles exoskeleton, an autonomous ankle exoskeleton that can generate 52% of the positive plantarflexion power around the ankle of a 80 kg individual with only 1.5 kg of mass added around the ankle joint. The mass of the exoskeleton is lower and the power density is higher than that of existing autonomous exoskeletons. This high power density was achieved by designing a series elastic actuator that consists of an electric motor and ball-screw gear with a carbon fiber reinforced leaf-spring as lever-arm. A dynamic model that includes the motor and gear properties, spring stiffness, and exoskeleton geometry was used to optimize the design parameters for positive power injection. Doing this for multiple combinations of preselected motors and gears and comparing their support to weight ratio, revealed the best drive combination. The performance of the realized exoskeleton was assessed in several tests. The actuator can track the optimized actuator stroke trajectory with a following error that has a RMS of 2.3 mm, it can track force reference signals with amplitudes of 1 N to 100 N with a bandwidth between 8.1 Hz and 20.6 Hz, and it outputs a maximum mechanical power of 80.2 W. These results show that the device is suitable for fulfilling its purpose: reducing the metabolic cost of walking with an autonomous device.

AB - This paper presents the Achilles exoskeleton, an autonomous ankle exoskeleton that can generate 52% of the positive plantarflexion power around the ankle of a 80 kg individual with only 1.5 kg of mass added around the ankle joint. The mass of the exoskeleton is lower and the power density is higher than that of existing autonomous exoskeletons. This high power density was achieved by designing a series elastic actuator that consists of an electric motor and ball-screw gear with a carbon fiber reinforced leaf-spring as lever-arm. A dynamic model that includes the motor and gear properties, spring stiffness, and exoskeleton geometry was used to optimize the design parameters for positive power injection. Doing this for multiple combinations of preselected motors and gears and comparing their support to weight ratio, revealed the best drive combination. The performance of the realized exoskeleton was assessed in several tests. The actuator can track the optimized actuator stroke trajectory with a following error that has a RMS of 2.3 mm, it can track force reference signals with amplitudes of 1 N to 100 N with a bandwidth between 8.1 Hz and 20.6 Hz, and it outputs a maximum mechanical power of 80.2 W. These results show that the device is suitable for fulfilling its purpose: reducing the metabolic cost of walking with an autonomous device.

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M3 - Conference contribution

SN - 978-147993126-2

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BT - 5th IEEE RAS and EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, BioRob 2014; Sao Paulo; Brazil; 12-15 August 2014; Category numberCFP14BRB-PRT; Code 109564

PB - IEEE

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Meijneke C, van Dijk W, van der Kooij H. Achilles: An autonomous lightweight ankle exoskeleton to provide push-off power. In 5th IEEE RAS and EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, BioRob 2014; Sao Paulo; Brazil; 12-15 August 2014; Category numberCFP14BRB-PRT; Code 109564. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE. 2014. p. 918-923. (IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics; 5). doi: 10.1109/BIOROB.2014.6913898

Achilles: An autonomous lightweight ankle exoskeleton to provide push-off power

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Keywords

UN SDGs

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