Performance Evaluation Index And Method Of Assisted Exoskeleton

There has been increased automation throughout modern society.But in some dynamic manufacturing or warehouse factory environments,or when the military is on an emergency rescue mission,the flexibility required to observe the surrounding environment,decide and take appropriate action,so full automation is not feasible.But manual workers,rescue workers and clinicians face a high risk of occupational diseases such as muscle necrosis and disc herniation.The assisted exoskeleton is a kind of wearable external mechanical structure that can enhance the human body’s load-bearing capacity,and can reduce the body damage under the load operation.Performance evaluation is of great significance to guide the technical progress of assisted exoskeleton,there is a quantified standard for whether the assisted exoskeleton meets people’s needs for safety,health,comfort and satisfaction in wearable devices.At present,the performance evaluation of the assisted exoskeleton system is mostly described by a single index,and there is no unified international standard.In view of this,this paper will comprehensively consider all aspects of factors,through in-depth analysis of scenarios that may affect the performance of the assisted exoskeleton,establish an evaluation method that can comprehensively evaluate the performance of the assisted exoskeleton,the main content is divided into the following:(1)A performance evaluation method system is constructed.According to the main functional purpose of the assisted exoskeleton system to enhance the load-bearing performance of human body,and according to the selection principle of evaluation indexes,a task-based experimental design method was adopted to establish a method system for the comprehensive evaluation of the assisted exoskeleton performance.The performance of the assisted exoskeleton was evaluated from the aspects of comfort,gait following,degree of freedom,power efficiency and kinematics by comprehensively considering the application scenarios and working types of the assisted exoskeleton and establishing evaluation indexes and prescribed evaluation criteria by environment and task.(2)A test method system according to the design cycle is built.According to the design cycle of the exoskeleton system,the performance tests based on each design stage of the exoskeleton were established,and the corresponding evaluation methods were put forward for unit module stage,integration stage and system stage respectively.The purpose is to reduce the structural and functional design errors of the underlying structure,reduce the cycle of the system development stage,so that the test can participate in the system development as early as possible.(3)A test environment to verify test indicators is built.The performance evaluation method of the assisted exoskeleton is applied to evaluate the system performance of the flexible assisted exoskeleton.According to the index parameters of the established evaluation system,the experimental design and site construction are carried out.The collected data include: distance and Angle data when people do some extreme movements(side bending,horizontal splitting,vertical splitting,leg lifting and kicking)with or without exoskeleton;Kinematics data of people when they cross obstacles,step on obstacles and climb obstacles with or without exoskeleton;Data of oxygen consumption and heart rate of people walking at a speed of 5km/h for 10 min in different environments(stone,stone,lawn)with or without exoskeleton bearing 10 kg and without weight.The performance evaluation results of the flexible exoskeleton system are obtained by analyzing and comparing these data.