Exoskeleton for the human arm, in particular for space applications
| 474 - Abstract: |
| The offer proposed relates to an innovative exoskeleton that includes a kinematic chain of parallel pivots and comprises a shoulder, a curved and a hand. It has six joints providing six degrees of freedom, with a support carried by a human operator with rigid front and rear plates. The shoulder is fixed to the front plate and the hand is fixed to a rigid glove on the operator’s hand. The active areas are controlled by flexible tendons of cables activated by control units disposed on the rear rigid plate. |
Innovations and advantages:
Although the kinematic parallel of the exoskeleton is different from that of the arm, each posture of the human articulations can be determined in a univocal way by the corresponding posture of the chain of kinematic of exoskeleton. The advantages brought by this approach are numerous and can be summarized as follows:
- The weight of the system is not carried by the arm but by the thorax
- The complete range of movements of shoulder, elbow and wrist is possible
- The articulations themselves are simpler and more reduced
- It is not necessary to align the axes of the human articulations with those of the exoskeleton: no complex adjustment procedure is needed before the exoskeleton is operational
Commercialisation aspects
Applications and Markets
The technology may be interesting for the following applications: hazardous or other dangerous materials handling, remote medical surgery, military tactics (de-mining operations), diving robotics at oil platforms or prosthetics.
Intellectual property status
Currently patented (France, Germany, Spain and the USA) and looking for licensing agreements.
