Knee Compliance Reduces Peak Swing Phase Collision Forces in a Lower-Limb Exoskeleton Leg: A Test Bench Evaluation

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that implementing compliant knee joints in lower-limb exoskeletons significantly reduces collision forces, enhancing safety and potentially improving user balance during accidental impacts.

Contribution

The paper provides experimental evidence that variable stiffness knee actuators decrease collision forces in exoskeletons, informing safer design choices.

Findings

Peak torque at pelvis reduced from 260.2 Nm to 116.2 Nm with compliance.

Mechanical impulse decreased by a factor of three with compliance.

Compliance in knee joints can improve collision handling and safety.

Abstract

Powered lower limb exoskeletons are a viable solution for people with a spinal cord injury to regain mobility for their daily activities. However, the commonly employed rigid actuation and pre-programmed trajectories increase the risk of falling in case of collisions with external objects. Compliant actuation may reduce forces during collisions, thus protecting hardware and user. However, experimental data of collisions specific to lower limb exoskeletons are not available. In this work, we investigated how a variable stiffness actuator at the knee joint influences collision forces transmitted to the user via the exoskeleton. In a test bench experiment, we compared three configurations of an exoskeleton leg with a variable stiffness knee actuator in (i) compliant or (ii) stiff configurations, and with (iii) a rigid actuator. The peak torque observed at the pelvis was reduced from 260.2 Nm to 116.2 Nm as stiffness decreased. In addition, the mechanical impulse was reduced by a factor of three. These results indicate that compliance in the knee joint of an exoskeleton can be favorable in case of collision and should be considered when designing powered lower limb exoskeletons. Overall, this could decrease the effort necessary to maintain balance after a collision and improved collision handling in exoskeletons could result in safer use and benefit their usefulness in daily life.