Design and Development of a Lightweight, High-Torque, and Cost-Effective Hip exoskeleton

Individuals with physical impairments and chronic conditions (including children, adolescents, adults, and seniors) who have motor disabilities are recommended to use assistive devices to perform activities of daily living (ADLs). Developing these devices to be cost-effective, lightweight, and comfortable would make them more practical for home-based usage with a significant impact on people’s lives. In this work, a new hip exoskeleton is designed with low weight and cost while ensuring the wearer’s comfort in various movements. In addition, this exoskeleton maintains high structural strength and torque power. This lower limb exoskeleton has two degrees of freedom (DOFs) and can generate hip movement trajectories in the sagittal plane. The structure of this exoskeleton was fabricated from light and printable materials such as thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), Polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG), polylactic acid (PLA), and carbon fiber to make it more affordable for a larger population of end-users. A compact control system including a high-torque DC motor, mini-PC, microcontroller, and intermediate boards was carefully selected to optimize the size of this device. Experimental studies have been performed to evaluate the performance of this exoskeleton in walking and sit-to-stand movements at low and high speeds.