Abstract: We propose a new method for the customized design of hip exoskeletons based on the optimization of the human-machine physical interface to improve user comfort. The approach is based on mechanisms designed to follow the natural trajectories of the human hip as the flexion angle varies during motion. The motions of the hip joint center with variation of the flexion angle were measured and the resulting trajectory was modeled. An exoskeleton mechanism capable to follow the hip center’s movement was designed to cover the full motion ranges of flexion and abduction angles, and was adopted in a lower extremity assistive exoskeleton. The resulting design can reduce human-machine interaction forces by 24.1% and 76.0% during hip flexion and abduction, respectively, leading to a more ergonomic and comfortable-to-wear exoskeleton system. The human-exoskeleton model was analyzed to further validate the decrease of the hip joint internal force during hip joint flexion or abduction by applying the resulting design.

Key words: Hip joint exoskeleton, Hip joint center, Compatible joint, Human-machine interaction force

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