Human-Exoskeleton Multibody System Dynamics to Study Assistance During Standing and Walking Tasks

EasyChair Preprint 13479

Abstract

Powered robotic lower-limb exoskeletons have the potential to advance mobility and quality of life for individuals with physical impairments. In the current abstract, we discuss multibody dynamic modeling of a human wearing a lower-limb exoskeleton and interacting with their environment. Said models can then be adopted for design of model-based assistive control systems as well as performing “what-if” dynamic simulations, which can assess control safety and behaviour prior to human testing. The modeling approach emphasizes sagittal floating-base coordinates for both human and exoskeleton movements, integrating muscle torque generators (MTGs) for realistic human actuation without complex musculoskeletal geometry. Physical interactions among human, exoskeleton, and environment are captured through kinematic constraints and reset maps. Simulation studies on balance control featuring the model disseminated are consistent with the literature and suggest that model-derived feedback assistance improves the ability of users with reduced muscle strength to recover balance following a large perturbation.

Keyphrases: Assistance, Dynamic simulations, Exoskeleton, Human-exoskeleton model, Hybrid dynamical system, Muscle torque generator

@booklet{EasyChair:13479,
  author    = {Keaton Inkol and John McPhee},
  title     = {Human-Exoskeleton Multibody System Dynamics to Study Assistance During Standing and Walking Tasks},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 13479},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2024}}