MODELLING OF PHYSICAL HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION FOR EXOSKELETON DESIGNS

Abstract

Light-weight exoskeletons can be used for motion assistance for the elderly or the disabled in their daily lives and for training patients under rehabilitation, for which the physical human-robot interaction is a major concern for a safe and comfortable usage.A model that will help better understanding, estimating and analyzing the physical human-robot interaction is desirable for the purpose of design and control.In this paper, a modelling method comprising the biomechanics of human body as well as the robot dynamics of the exoskeleton was proposed for the modelling of physical human-robot interaction.A human-robot model was developed, which integrates the musculoskeletal model of the human body and an exoskeleton arm.The model is able to estimate the muscles activities in cooperative motions and enables the design analysis and optimization of robotic exoskeletons.