Affiliation:
1. The School of Mechatronics Engineering Harbin Institute of Technology Harbin Heilongjiang 150001 China
2. The Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering University of Manchester Manchester M13 9PL UK
3. School of Mathematics and Statistics Hainan Normal University Haikou 571158 China
Abstract
Supernumerary robotic limbs (SRLs) are a new type of wearable robot that add artificial limbs to the human body to perform collaborative tasks. In contrast with exoskeletons, SRLs are kinematically independent of human limbs, allowing the wearer to overcome the limitations of human physiological ability, such as realizing the expansion of space in the human body, rather than enhancing existing limbs. In this study, a lightweight and compact hexagonal reconfigurable lower‐limb SRL system is proposed to assist human locomotion in daily activities, including walking, crouching, and stair climbing. To adapt to multiple scenarios, the hexagonal mechanism can be adjusted to different configurations including convex hexagonal configuration, pentagonal configuration, and concave hexagonal configuration. To achieve more optimized performance of different configurations, the optimization for identifying the optimal dimensions of each link was carried out. Subsequently, the detailed design methodology and specifics are presented. Finally, the load and wearing performance experiments were evaluated. The experiment results demonstrated that the tested maximum load in different configurations exceeded 90% of the simulated value and the entire equipment has a good wearing adaptability. This study may inspire the design of other lower‐limb SRLs and provide efficient solutions for stable support assistance in various scenarios.
Funder
National Outstanding Youth Science Fund Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China