Design and control of an exoskeleton for the elderly and patients

Recently, the exoskeletal power assistive equipment, which is a kind of wearable robot, has been widely developed to help human body motion. The exoskeleton for elderly people and patients, however, has some limitations due to the weight and volume of the equipment. In this paper, a tendon-driven exoskeletal power assistive device, exoskeleton for patients and the old by the Sogang University (EXPOS), is proposed as a feasible solution. In case of EXPOS, the caster walker carries heavy items such as motors, drivers, controllers, and batteries so that the weight and volume of the wearable exoskeleton are minimized. The tendon-connecting motors and pulleys of hip and knee generate the assistive power according to the requirement of the users. In this paper, the design concepts of the EXPOS, sensing techniques, and control methods are discussed.