Personalizing exoskeleton assistance while walking in the real world

Abstract Personalized exoskeleton assistance provides users with the largest improvements in walking speed 1 and energy economy 2–4 but requires lengthy tests under unnatural laboratory conditions. Here we show that exoskeleton optimization can be performed rapidly and under real-world conditions. We designed a portable ankle exoskeleton based on insights from tests with a versatile laboratory testbed. We developed a data-driven method for optimizing exoskeleton assistance outdoors using wearable sensors and found that it was equally effective as laboratory methods, but identified optimal parameters four times faster. We performed real-world optimization using data collected during many short bouts of walking…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: DGE-1656518, -1656518, 1734449, CMMI-1734449, 1656518
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Award: P41EB027060
• DO
  Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation