Exoskeletons

The Exoskeleton KIT-EXO-1

Das Exoskelett KIT-EXO-1

The exoskeleton KIT-EXO-1 was introduced in 2013 with the aim to augment human capabilities or to use it in rehabilitation applications. It has two degrees of freedom at the knee and ankle, as well as a passive degree of freedom allowing the user to move the lower ankle joint. The active degrees of freedom are driven by an elastic or a stiff actuator, which can apply a maximum torque of 120 Nm. Using a series elasticity increases actuator efficiency and user safety when wearing the exoskeleton device. Straps from a commercial orthosis and a sports shoe are installed to interface user and construction. Integrated force sensors in the belts measure the forces between user and exoskeleton during operation and current research aims to generate an intuitive device control based on force data.