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The Effects of Unpowered Soft Exoskeletons on Preferred Gait Features and Resonant Walking
- Source :
- Machines, Vol 10, Iss 7, p 585 (2022)
- Publication Year :
- 2022
- Publisher :
- MDPI AG, 2022.
-
Abstract
- Resonant walking with preferred gait features is a self-optimized consequence of long-term human locomotion. Minimal energy expenditure can be achieved in this resonant condition. This unpowered multi-joint soft exoskeleton is designed to test whether: (1) there is an obvious improvement in preferred speed and other gait features; (2) resonant walking still exists with exoskeleton assistance. Healthy participants (N = 7) were asked to perform the following trials: (1) walking at 1.25 m/s without assistance (normal condition); (2) walking at 1.25 m/s with assistance (general condition); (3) walking at preferred speed with assistance (preferred condition); (4) walking at the speed in trial (3) without assistance (comparison condition). Participants walked at the preferred frequency and ±10% of it. An average 21% increase in preferred speed was observed. The U-shaped oxygen consumption and lower limb muscle activity curve with the minimum at preferred frequency indicated that the resonant condition existed under the preferred condition. Average metabolic reductions of 4.53% and 7.65% were found in the preferred condition compared to the general and comparison condition, respectively. These results demonstrate that the resonant condition in assisted walking could benefit energy expenditure and provide a new perspective for exoskeleton design and evaluation.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20751702
- Volume :
- 10
- Issue :
- 7
- Database :
- Directory of Open Access Journals
- Journal :
- Machines
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsdoj.4023d021836943dcbd14dfba24d45f90
- Document Type :
- article
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3390/machines10070585