A Synergy-Based Approach for the Design of a Lower-Limb, Cable-Driven Exosuit

Abstract

A novel, synergy-based design for lower-limb, gait assistance exosuits is proposed in this paper. The general design philosophy is followed by the mathematical model that leads to the exosuit’s actuation system design from a certain set of postural synergies, which may reduce the number of total required actuators and, thus, the overall system weight and price. Cable extensions are chosen as the design variable upon which the principal component analysis is performed, given the high resulting cumulative variance that is obtained with few principal components. Expressions for the pulley radii are then derived and a general exosuit design is proposed, along with a novel transmission system that can combine any number of actuators to follow the gait movements from a synergy perspective. A basic testbench is also presented with such a transmission system implemented and an empirical set of results are shown with a varying number of actuators, proving that cable extensions and synergy-based design provide an excellent solution when reducing the number of actuation units in a walking-assistance exosuit.