Simulation and Control of a Six Degree of Freedom Lower Limb Exoskeleton

In this paper, the development of controlling a six Degree of Freedom (DOF) Lower Limb Exoskeleton (LLE) model using the Robot Operating System (ROS) is presented. Moreover, this work proposes a method to analyze kinematic properties and control of the LLE before the prototype. The model of the LLE is described using Extensible Markup Language (XML) programming in the Unified Robot Description Format (URDF). The dynamic equation of the six-DoF LLE is determined by using Newton-Euler. In addition, a Proposition-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller is established in a feedback closed-loop control system. The PID controller is tuned via Ziegler-Nichols (Z-N). The tuned PID controller is tested in the Gazebo environment to confirm the performance of the proposed method. The nodes and topics flow chart of the programmed 3-D model of the LLE is described. Furthermore, a desired angular trajectory based on the phase on walking is defined for each joint of the LLE. The result shows that the actual pursue the desired angular trajectory for each joint. The average and maximum error of the angular trajectories for all the joints are less than 0.05 radian. It can be ascertained that our developed LLE model in the Gazebo simulator can be used for giving an overview of the walking pattern.