Stiffness modulation of a cable-driven leg exoskeleton for effective human–robot interaction

Abstract

Abstract With the widespread development of leg exoskeletons to provide external force-based repetitive training for gait rehabilitation, the prospect of undesired movement adaptation due to applied forces and imposed constraints require adequate investigation. A cable-driven leg exoskeleton, CDLE, presents a lightweight, flexible, and redundantly actuated architecture that enables the possibility of system parameters modulation to alter human–robot interaction while applying the desired forces. In this work, multi-joint stiffness performance of CDLE is formulated to systematically analyze human–CDLE interaction. Further, potential alterations in CDLE architecture are presented to tune human–CDLE interaction that favors the desired human leg movement during a gait rehabilitation paradigm.