Intelligent Robotics Laboratory

Lower limb exosuits assist ankle, knee, hip of hemiparetic patients to improve their walking ability in daily life. To achieve the exosuit’s engineering goals, the assistive force must be sufficiently transmitted to the joint and be lightweight and comfortable. In this paper, we present the first prototype of a modular soft exosuit aimed at assisting hemiparetic patients with gait and sit-to-stand movements during daily activities. To achieve the engineering goals, the exosuit utilizes a tendon-driven actuation system to assist paretic ankle dorsiflexion by transmitting an appropriate force according to the gait cycle. A highly efficient tendon path was analyzed through experiment in consideration of the moment force depending on the distance between the body and the wire. The exosuit is also designed to be partially wearable in a modular format, and adjustable for multiple users to increase convenience.