Simulation and biomechanical evaluation of unpowered knee assisted exoskeleton

Abstract

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of exoskeleton design, a detailed evaluation of human biomechanics is necessary. In this paper, an unpowered exoskeleton of the knee joint is designed. A simplified 5-bar model of the lower limb is used to establish a walking kinematics model, and the change equation of knee angle is obtained. The curve of the knee angle is obtained through Matlab simulation and Visual 3D software. The simulation results are similar to the experiment, and the change curve of knee angle is consistent with the test results of human walking. It shows that the simplified model and simulation test is reasonable and effective, and conform to the walking process of human lower limbs. The activation and metabolism of lower limb muscles in three wearing states were obtained by using the OpenSim software, and the muscle activation was compared with the EMG test. The experimental results show that the exoskeletons in the gait cycle have different effects on the muscles of the lower limbs. The exoskeletons can provide assisted force for walking, reducing muscle activity and metabolic rate.