Development and Prototyping of a Series-Elastic-Actuator-Driven Lower Body Exoskeleton
Abstract: This thesis presentation documents the design, development, construction, and testing of a prototype rigid-frame lower-body exoskeleton with 2 powered degrees of freedom. The design is parametric and can be adapted to different users via a fitment process before the exoskeleton is manufactured. A brief review of existing literature on exoskeletons and series elastic actuators will be performed. The design requirements of the prototype will be described, and an overview of the process of hardware selection will be provided. The mechanical design of the exoskeleton prototype will be described. Particular emphasis is placed on the development of a rotary elastic element for series elastic actuators. The control laws used by the exoskeleton will be described. Finally, the design flaws identified in the prototype will be discussed, and a series of proposed design changes incorporating the lessons learned from development of the prototype will be discussed.
Advisor: Professor Mehul Bhatia
Committee: Professor Bashima Islam (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Professor Pradeep Radhakrishnan (Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Professor Ted Clancy (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Zoom link: https://wpi.zoom.us/j/99547597858