• Chapter 1 Introduction and Literature Survey (12)
  • 1.1 Exoskeleton concept (12)
  • 1.2 Exoskeleton background (13)
    • 1.2.1 DARPA Program Exoskeletons (15)
      • 1.2.1.1 Berkeley Exoskeleton (BLEEX) (16)
      • 1.2.1.2 Sarcos Exoskeleton (17)
      • 1.2.1.3 MIT Exoskeleton (18)
    • 1.2.2 Other Lower Extremity Exoskeletons (19)
      • 1.2.2.1 Hybrid Assistive Leg (19)
      • 1.2.2.2 Nurse-Assisting Exoskeleton (20)
      • 1.2.2.3 RoboKnee (21)
    • 1.2.3 Several Full Lower Limbs Exoskeletal Systems (22)
      • 1.2.3.1 Mihailo Pupin Institute Exoskeletons (22)
      • 1.2.3.2 University of Wisconsin Exoskeleton (23)
  • 1.3 Thesis Overview (24)
• Chapter 2 (26)
  • 2.1 Introduction (26)
  • 2.2 Biological joints (26)
  • 2.3 Range of Motion and Degrees of Freedom of Joints (27)
  • 2.4 Which joints should be actuated? (27)
  • 2.5 Different types of actuators (28)
    • 2.5.1 Hydraulic actuators (29)
    • 2.5.2 Electric actuators (30)
      • 2.5.2.1 Electric joint cooling (31)
    • 2.5.3 Comparison of the joint weight and power consumption (32)
    • 2.5.4 Series Elastic actuator (32)
      • 2.5.4.1 Linear Series Elastic Actuator (32)
      • 2.5.4.2 Bowden cable Series Elastic Actuator (33)
      • 2.5.4.3 Rotary Series Elastic Actuator with bevel gears (35)
  • 2.6 Several related works (36)
    • 2.6.1 The Berkeley’s lower extremity exoskeleton (BLEEX) (37)
  • 2.7 Comparison of different exoskeletal systems (41)
  • 2.8 Conclusions (43)
• Chapter 3 (45)
• Biomechanical Framework for muscle power analysis (45)
  • 3.1 Introduction (45)
  • 3.2 Musculoskeletal system (45)
  • 3.3 Muscle power analysis (47)
  • 3.4 Appropriate criterion for actuator design (48)
    • 3.4.1 Maximum power criterion (49)
    • 3.4.2 Maximum torque criterion (53)
  • 3.5 Conclusions (55)
• Chapter 4 (57)
• Mechanical design of exoskeletal system components (57)
  • 4.1 Introduction (57)
  • 4.2 Definitions (57)
  • 4.3 Mechanical design of components for the hip, knee and ankle joints (58)
    • 4.3.1 Design of the joint actuators (58)
      • 4.3.1.1 Motor selection (58)
      • 4.3.1.2 Actuators’ spring selection (61)
      • 4.3.1.3 Selection of coupling, LVDT, and bearings (61)
    • 4.3.2 CAM mechanism (62)
      • 4.3.2.1 Cam mechanism Design (62)
      • 4.3.2.2 Bearings selection (63)
      • 4.3.2.3 Hip abduction spring selection (64)
    • 4.3.3 Unactuated spring selection (65)
  • 4.4 Mechanism of length’s adjustment (67)
  • 4.5 Conclusions (72)
• Chapter 5 (73)
• Conclusion and Future works (73)