Robotics and Autonomous Systems 153 (2022) 104079

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Robotics and Autonomous Systems

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/robot

Analysis, design and preliminary evaluation of an anthropometric

self-stabilization passive exoskeleton for enhancing the ability of
walking with loads
∗
Nengbing Zhou a , Yali Liu a , , Qiuzhi Song a , Zhuo Qi a , Weizhi Ren a , Kun Zhang b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Haidian, Beijing 100081, China
b
Advanced technology research institute, Beijing Institute of Technology, Jinan, Shandong Province, 250300, China

article info a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper introduces the analysis, design and preliminary evaluation of an anthropometric self-
Received 23 September 2020 stabilization passive exoskeleton (ASPE) with elastic band to increase the load transmission efficiency
Received in revised form 2 November 2021 and protect and strengthen the human body during loaded walking. Firstly, we analyze the working
Accepted 4 March 2022
principle of passive exoskeleton, and propose an efficient method of reducing the degrees of freedom
Available online 17 March 2022
in exoskeleton relatively, which contributes to a self-stabilization mechanism for balancing the back
Keywords: torque causing by the loaded backpack and assisting human hip flexion. The design of the ASPE is
Passive exoskeleton then introduced in detail. The novelty of the ASPE is that the human–machine interaction forces are
Self-stabilization mechanism significantly reduced by integrating the elastic band into the exoskeleton hip joint and converting
Efficient transmission load gravity into the elastic potential energy of elastic band to assist hip joint flexion. Furthermore,
Dynamic modeling
we analyze the dynamic modeling of the ASPE to preliminarily calculate the transmission efficiency
regarding the ratio of plantar pressure of the ASPE to load gravity. Besides, we conduct the experiment
of human wearing the ASPE to evaluate the performance of the ASPE regarding the ratio of the
difference of human plantar pressure with and without the ASPE to load gravity. The results show
that the ASPE can effectively transfer load gravity to the ground and maintain the human natural
movement. The ratio of the plantar pressure of the ASPE to load gravity is more than 70% in the
simulation, and when the walking speed is 4 km/h, the ASPE reduce the human plantar pressure of
68.9% compared to without wearing the ASPE during human walking with load. The results provide
evidence for the efficient transmission of the newly designed ASPE during walking with loads. The
application of the ASPE have benefits for subjects walking with loads, such as soldiers, to decrease
their injuries and strengthen their ability.
© 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction the limit energy cannot provide steady assistance continuously.

Walking with loads on the irregular terrain surfaces is a com-
mon activity for foot soldiers who often carry heavy loads using a
variety of backpack systems for a long time, which making them
fatigue rapidly and reducing the operation effectiveness eventu-
ally [1–4]. Furthermore, those labors with discomforts created by
loads can also increase the probability of damage [5,6]. In the long
run, the physical function will be declined and possibly even an
arthritic symptoms and a disk herniation will occur [7]. Given that
the power of human is not enough for the work demands, some
engineers have settled down to design mechanical equipment to
assist human in life and labor since 1960 [8,9]. Utilizing the exter-
nal powered apparatuses can improve Human’s abilities [10], but
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: buaaliuyali@126.com (Y. Liu).
The passive exoskeleton is a practicable method to strengthen
physical strength with its advantage of no external energy and
continuous assistance. Using energy storage component (ESC) in
passive exoskeleton, such as spring and damper [11], to improve
the efficiency of human activities is a popular method. For ex-
ample, Zhang et al. [12] used three springs to help human torso
stretch during transforming loads for easing the lumbar muscles.
The ESC can be shortened and stretched during human periodic
walking movements in view of the non-fixed axis of rotation
of the three main joints of the lower limbs. According to this
characteristic, Ref. [13–17] added ESC to the exoskeleton hip,
knee and ankle joint to help hip, knee extension/flexion and
ankle dorsiflexion/plantarflexion, respectively. Since the gait is a
periodic process, the ESC can store the energy wasted as negative
work and recycle it as positive work for joints movement. In
the Ref. [18], Wietse et al. added springs to the hip and ankle
joint of the XPED2 and tying the exoskeleton calf and human

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.robot.2022.104079
0921-8890/© 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
N. Zhou, Y. Liu, Q. Song et al. Robotics and Autonomous Systems 153 (2022) 104079

calf for providing passive assistance. Human hip extension and

ankle dorsiflexion will tighten the cable to stretch the springs
and the elongated springs has effect on hip flexion and ankle
plantarflexion. Their experiments demonstrated that the springs
can reduce the human joint torque effectively.
Another method of passive exoskeletons to help human walk-
ing with loads is that utilizing rigid structure to support human
weight or heavy burden. For supporting human weight, Bridger
et al. [19] tested a passive exoskeleton that was strapped to the
human lower leg back and a spring damper unit spanning the
knee joint, the results showed that wearing the exoskeleton can
augment the action of the knee extensor muscles compared to
without wearing the exoskeleton. Obviously, this exoskeleton is
only suitable for sitting, regarding walking state, the human–
robot cooperative movement is widely studied in robotic appli-
cations. Wang et al. [20] developed a dual-snap-fit mechanism in
the knee joint of the lower limb exoskeleton and Collo et al. [21]
adopted clutch controlled by drivers to lock and unlock the knee
joint of the exoskeleton, which providing body weight support
to the user in the stance phase and avoiding affecting the lower
limbs swing in the swing phase. However, the transmission effi-
ciency of body weight was not high because of inferior coopera-
tive movement. For supporting heavy burden, Aoustin et al. [22]
proved the feasibility and efficiency of a passive exoskeleton
for carrying a load during human walking by simulation. Walsh
et al. [23] developed a quasi-passive leg exoskeleton that two
pairs of springs were spanned the exoskeleton hip joint and
ankle joint and a variable-damper was in the exoskeleton knee Fig. 1. Work mechanism of n-linkage. G means the load force, the αi , i = 1, 2,
3,. . . , n means the angle of ith link with respect to vertical line, Fn means the
joint, and the experiment result showed that average 80% of ground reaction force.
the load was transferred to the ground during the single stance
phase, however, due to its heavy weight, it lacks flexibility and
practicality.
Based on the investigations above, these features of 2. The working principle of ASPE
lightweight, movement compatibility and passive assistance are
the key technology for the passive exoskeleton to perform effi- 2.1. The work mechanism of passive exoskeleton
ciently. For augmenting load-carrying, although obtaining some
research results in the domain of passive exoskeleton, the dif- The movement of the passive exoskeleton mainly occurred in
ference between passive exoskeleton and human body is still a the sagittal plane, which was consistent with human movement,
huge challenge because of the complexity of human body system. therefore, the work mechanism of the passive exoskeleton in
Lacking of autonomy in the passive exoskeleton results in the the sagittal plane was analyzed in detail. In general, the passive
increasing of human metabolism during human walking with exoskeleton that matches the movement of the human body can
passive exoskeleton in that overcoming the rotating moment of be simplified into a multi-link mechanical bodies. Considering the
loads in the Sagittal plane and Coronal plane [24–26]. More im- general applicability, the n-link was used for analysis. As shown
portantly, the wearer will be hindered to run and the probability in Fig. 1:
of injuries will increase. Based on the principle of force balance, the relationship be-
In order to solve these problems, based on the analysis of tween Fn and G can be obtained, as shown in the formula (1):
the working principle of the passive exoskeleton, the ASPE is
Fn = G cos α1 cos (α1 + α2 ) cos (α2 + α3 ) · · ·
proposed and his structure is designed. The ASPE includes a
balanced load-bearing structure, a heteromorphic curved low- × cos (αn−1 + αn ) cos αn (1)
limb structure and a ground support structure. The three parts
In formula (1), 0 ≤ cos αi ≤ 1, 0 ≤ cos (αi−1 + αi ) ≤ 1,
are independent of each other and are mainly manufactured by
therefore, Fn ≪ G, the equal sign was established if n = 1 and
carbon fiber, which has the advantages of light-weight, modular
α1 = 0. The efficiency of force transmission was calculated by
structure, and adapting to different human body sizes. Through
the formula (2):
the design of ASPE, our goal is to reduce the pressure of load
on foot soldiers and ultimately reduce their energy consumption. Fn
η= (2)
This paper mainly introduces the force transfer process and the G
structural design of ASPE, and the follow-up research will pay Combining with formula (1) and formula (2), the efficiency of
attention to the changes of subjects’ energy consumption. The force transmission was determined by the number of links and
rest of the article is composed as follows. Section 2 is the analysis the angle between the links and the vertical direction. Apparently,
of the working principle of passive exoskeleton and the analysis the fewer the number of links or the smaller the angle, the higher
and design of the ASPE. Section 3 is the detailed design of the the efficiency of force transmission. According to the analysis
mechanical structure of the ASPE. Section 4 is the simulation of the work mechanism of the passive exoskeleton, a primary
and experimental research and results analysis. Section 5 is the method to achieve efficient force transmission was minimizing
conclusion. the degrees of freedom (DOFs) of the passive exoskeleton.
2
N. Zhou, Y. Liu, Q. Song et al. Robotics and Autonomous Systems 153 (2022) 104079

Fig. 2. Self-stabilization mechanism of ASPE. The (a) was the right view in the sagittal plane, and the right leg was on the rear stance phase, the elastic unit was
stressed, the ∆L is the deformation of the elastic unit. The (b) was the left view in the same plane, and the elastic unit was nature state.

2.2. The design of ASPE to minimize the DOF The elastic element of the right leg was stretched when the
whole left foot was on the ground (shown in Fig. 2(a)). The
The basic connection form between upper extremity and lower elastic element produced a tension of Fe , which could balance
extremity of passive exoskeleton was connected by the rotational the title moment of the load and provide an assistance for the
DOF of the hip joint. This connecting form can be equivalent to hip flexion at the early stage of the swing. At the same time, the
a 3-link mechanism, including the upper limb, thigh and calf of elastic element of the left leg was relaxed, as shown in Fig. 2(b).
the passive exoskeleton, when considering the unilateral leg and During the left leg moved forward to the upright state, the elastic
neglecting the sole, and the load gravity was transferred from the element of the right leg returned to its original length, and the
upper limb to the hip joint structure, then from the lower limb elastic element of the left leg began to stretch and played a role
structure to the ground. Based on the analysis in Section 2.1, min- in balancing the load. The elastic elements alternately balanced
imizing the DOF of passive exoskeleton was to fix the exoskeleton the tilting moment of the load during one gait.
upper extremity relative to the hip joint. In equilibrium, the mechanical relationship of the exoskeleton
When carrying loads, there was a certain deviation between waist was shown in formula (3):
the center of gravity (COG) of the human body and the COG of the Le Lp cos θT
load, which producing a counterclockwise tilting moment relative Gd1 = Fe (3)
LO + ∆L
to the hip joint of the passive exoskeleton. Normally, this tilting
moment was balanced by the clockwise bending moment from By Hooke’s law:
the human torso, which increased the burden for the human torso
Fe = k∆L (4)
and resulted in energy loss.
Accordingly, this ASPE was designed with a self-stabilization Combining formula (3) and (4):
mechanism module, which connected the waist structure and
k∆LLe Lp cos θT
the thigh structure through the elastic unit on the front side of Gd1 = (5)
the exoskeleton. The schematic diagram of the mechanism was LO + ∆ L
shown in Fig. 2 and the symbol meanings were shown in Table 1. In formula (5), the self-stabilization mechanism was a kind of
The module can passively balance the tilting moment of load. The dynamic balance for the elastic deformation ∆L changed with the
upper limb structure of ASPE was fixed relative to the hip joint angle θT . From Eq. (5), the relationship between ∆L and θT was
structure, then the 3-link mechanism was equivalent to the 2- as follows:
link mechanism, including exoskeleton thigh and calf, to improve Gd1 L0
the efficiency of load transmission. Moreover, adding the elastic ∆L = (6)
kLe Lp cos θT − Gd1
element in front of the human thigh can assist the hip flexion,
reducing the energy consumption by 3.3 ± 3.0% compared with The meanings of the symbols above and the values of them were
no elastic element [27]. shown in Table 1:
3
N. Zhou, Y. Liu, Q. Song et al.
Table 1
The meanings of the symbols and values in self-stabilization mechanism.
Symbol Meaning Value
G The gravity of the load 100 N
d1 The force arm of load gravity to the hip joint 0.1 m
L0 Original length of the elastic unit 0.4 m
k Elastic element stiffness 10 N/mm
Le The horizontal distance between the fixed 0.08 m
point of the upper end of the elastic element
and the hip joint
Lp Linear distance between the fixed point of the 0.4 m
lower end of the elastic element and the hip
joint
θT Hip angle 0◦ ∼ 30◦
Fig. 3. The relationship of the deformation of the elastic unit ∆L with the
increased angle of hip joint θT .
According to the values of the relevant parameters of the
self-stabilization mechanism in Table 1, the relationship between
θT and ∆L can be obtained by MATLAB calculation, as shown
in Fig. 3:
The deformation of the elastic element increased with the hip
joint angle (shown in Fig. 3), which was in line with the actual
situation, under the hypothesis that the load gravity moment and
the elastic unit tension moment were balanced. The deformation
of the elastic unit was 0.0129 m when the angle of the hip joint
was 0◦ , which must be set as the pretension of the elastic unit
during the self-stabilization mechanism design.
From the calculation results, the design of adding an elastic
unit on the front side of the exoskeleton to overcome the tilting
moment of load was feasible. When the waist structure of the
ASPE was balanced, its hip joint could be regarded as fixed.
Therefore, this design can improve the transmission efficiency of
the load gravity according to the analysis of Section 2.1.
2.3. Force transmission of the ASPE
2.3.1. The force analysis model of the ASPE
The movement form and kinematic characteristics of the pas-
sive exoskeleton remained relatively consistent with the human
movement. The ASPE was equivalent to the secondary bone struc-
ture of the human body, and provided a force transmission as-
sistance to reduce the load gravity that human body needed
to carry without the exoskeleton. In order to analyze the force
transmission of the ASPE, we made some assumptions as follows:
4
Robotics and Autonomous Systems 153 (2022) 104079
Table 2
The meanings of symbol in Fig. 4.
Symbol Meaning
Li , i = 1,2,3,4 Length of each connecting rod
mi , i = 1,2,3,4 Link mass
di , i = 1, 2, 3, 4 The distance from the center of mass of each
link to the corresponding joint
θi , i = 1, 2, 3, 4 The angle of each connecting rod to the
vertical direction
Ft , F c Human–machine interaction force
Fe Elasticity of elastic unit
Fxi , Fyi , i = 1, 2, 3 Internal force of each joint
(1) The waist structure of the ASPE remained parallel to the
ground during human movement.
(2) The elastic element was set with a certain amount of
pretension when the human body was upright.
(3) Ignore some forces between human and the exoskeleton
such as frictions.
The ASPE and the human body formed a parallel and inte-
grated collaborative system, producing some interaction forces
between the man and the machine. For the ASPE, the main forces
includes the load gravity G, the interaction force Ft at the thigh,
Fc at the calf, the ground support force Fn . The simplified model
of the ASPE was shown in Fig. 4, and the meanings of the symbols
was shown in Table 2.
2.3.2. The force analysis of the ASPE during one gait cycle
The equilibrium forces of the ASPE in movement can be solved
by the principle of virtual displacement. The virtual work δ Wi
corresponding to the force F⃗i or torque M ⃗ i can be expressed by
the variable δ Si or δθi as:
δ Wi = F⃗i δ Si or δ Wi = M
⃗ i δθi (7)
Among them the( direction of θi specifies that the ) flexion is pos-
itive. Let F = Fe , Fx1 , Fy1 , Ft , Fx2 , Fy2 , Fc , Fx3 , Fy3 , and the direc-
⃗ ⃗ ⃗ ⃗ ⃗ ⃗ ⃗ ⃗ ⃗
tion of the force is upward and right are positive, and the positive
direction of the moment is counterclockwise. Through formula
(7), we can get:
⃗ = k⃗
AF (8)
In formula (8), A⃗ is the coefficient matrix of the interaction
⃗ is the load gravity matrix. The human walking can be
forces, k
decomposed into a repetitive movement of a gait cycle, and a
gait cycle is decomposed into a stance phase and a swing phase,
which the stance phase accounts for 60% of a gait cycle, and the
swing phase accounts for 40%. The ASPE mainly plays the role
of conducting weight-bearing gravity in the stance phase, and
following the movement of the human body in the swing phase.
As shown in Fig. 5:
When the leg on the stance phase was on the front side, it was
called the front stance phase, as shown in Fig. 5: ①, ②, ③; when
on the rear side, it was called the rear stance phase, as shown in
Fig. 5: ④, ⑤, ⑥, and the interaction forces between the ASPE and
the human body was different When the support legs were in the
different stance phase.
The interaction forces varied with the movement of the human
lower limbs. When the lower limb was in the front stance phase,
Ft was provided by the human thigh to support the ASPE thigh
turning forward; and Fc was provided by the human calf to
support the ASPE calf turning forward. When the lower limb was
in the rear stance phase, Ft = 0 because the waist structure was
fixed to the human body so that the human waist provided pull
N. Zhou, Y. Liu, Q. Song et al. Robotics and Autonomous Systems 153 (2022) 104079

Fig. 4. Simplified model of ASPE, the (a) show the geometry of PASE and the (b) show the free-body diagram of ASPE . This model includes nine links, the red part
mean the right leg, and the blue part mean the left leg. The solid circle mean the center of mass of the corresponding link, and the hollow circle mean the joint
degree of freedom of ASPE in the sagittal plane.

force for the thigh structure; Fc was provided by the human calf For the rear stance phase:

δx −1 0 00 0 0 0 0
⎡ ⎤
and the direction was reversed.
Therefore, for the front stance phase:
⎢ −δ y 0 1 00 0 0 0 0⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ Le Lp cos θ2 ⎥
⎢ 0 0 00 0 0 0 0⎥
⎢ Lo + ∆L
⎡ ⎤ ⎢ ⎥
0 1 0 0 0 0 0 00 ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢
⎢ 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0⎥
⎥
⎢
⎢ 0 0 0 01 0 0 0 0⎥
⎥
⎢ L L cos θ ⃗=⎢
A
⎥ ⎥
⎢ e p 2 0 0 0 00 1 0 0 0⎥
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0⎥
⎥ ⎢
⎢ Lo + ∆L
⎢ ⎢ ⎥
⎥
′
−L2 cos θ2 L2 sin θ2 0 0
⎢ ⎥
Lq 0 0 0 0⎥
⎢ ⎥
− cos θ2
⎢ ⎥ ⎢
⎢ 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0⎥ ⎢ ⎥
cos θ3 −1 0⎥
⎢ ⎥
0 0 0 00 0
⎢ ⎥
⃗A = ⎢
⎢ 0 0 −1 sin θ2 0 1 0
⎥
0 0⎥
⎢
⎢ ⎥
sin θ3 0 1⎦
⎢ ⎥
0 0 0 00 −1
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
0 0 −L2 sin θ2 L2 − d2 0 0 0 0 0⎥
⎢ ⎣
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥ 0 0 0 0 0 L3 sin θ3 d3 − L3 0 0
0 0 0 0 −1 0 − cos θ3 1 0⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢
⎢ ⎥ (11)
sin θ3 0 1⎥
⎢ ⎥
0 0 0 0 0 −1
0
⎢ ⎡ ⎤
⎣ ⎦
0 0 0 0 L3 cos θ3 −L3 sin θ3 L3 − d3 0 0
⎢ G ⎥
⎢ ⎥
(9) ⎢ ⎥
⎢Gd ⎥
⎡
0
⎤ ⎢ 1⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ O ⎥
⎢ G ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⃗=⎢ G ⎥
k (12)
⎢Gd1 ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ 0 ⎥
⎢ 0 ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ 0 ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⃗k = ⎢ 0 ⎥ (10) ⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎣ 0 ⎦
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ 0 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
0
⎢ ⎥
⎢ 0 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ 0 ⎥ Where:
Lp cos θ2
⎣ ⎦
0 δx = (13)
Lo + ∆ L
5
N. Zhou, Y. Liu, Q. Song et al. Robotics and Autonomous Systems 153 (2022) 104079

Fig. 5. Walking gait. The solid line represented the right leg that was in the stance phase, and the dotted line represented the left leg that was in the swing phase.

Table 3 of this plate was the bottom of the lumbar vertebra which can
The technical data of the ASPE. fully bear the load without affecting the position of load behind
Foot Lower-leg Upper-leg Load-bearing structure the human back. In view of the exercise physiology research of
Mass (kg) 0.35 0.65 0.58 0.75 the human lower limbs, the hip joint of ASPE was designed with
Length (m) 0.2475 0.3738 0.5001 0.1
three rotational DOFs corresponding to the human hip joint, see
Mass center (m) 0.1272 0.2269 0.3756 0.08
Fig. 6(b)②. Its order from top to bottom was to match the ad-
duction/abduction, flexion/extension, internal/external rotation,
√ and their range of movement was (−75◦ ∼180◦ ), (−90◦ ∼90◦ ),
(−60◦ ∼60◦ ), respectively, which could better adapt to the form
)2
Lp cos θ2
(
δy = 1− (14) of ball joint of the human hip joint.
Lo + ∆ L
The low-limb structure of exoskeleton generally adopted the
L2 − Lp Le cos θ2
( )
structural form of medial supporting [13] or lateral support-
L′q = (15)
Lo + ∆ L ing [18] in the sagittal plane. When the movements of the ex-
oskeleton knee joint and the human knee joint were not compat-
According to formula (8), the vertical component Fy3 was:
ible, it was easy to cause damage to the human knee joint [28].
For front stance phase:
In this study, the design of the exoskeleton lower limb structure
L2 sin2 θ2
( )
was set in front of the lower limb of the human body so that the
Fy3 = G 1 −
L2 − d2 force between the human and the machine existed in the sagittal
GL2 L3 sin θ2 cos (θ2 − θ3 ) − GL3 (L2 − d2 ) sin θ3 plane to reduce the damage to the human knee joint. In order to
+ sin θ3 improve the transmission efficiency of load force, the knee joint
(L2 − d2 ) (L3 − d3 ) adopted a single hinge structure and a corresponding mechanical
(16) limit was designed, its range of movement was (0◦ ∼170◦ ), see
For rear stance phase: Fig. 6(b)③. Supporting connections were designed on both sides
of the knee joint to provide stability of the knee joint structure.
L3 sin2 θ3
( )
Fy3 = G 1 − (17) When the knee angle was 0◦ , the mechanical closure of the knee
L3 − d 3 joint structure effectively prevented the excessive flexion and the
So far, the efficiency of the force transmission in one gait cycle exoskeleton lower limb structure could be regarded as a fixed link
during walking with ASPE are all determined. The overview of so that increasing the transmission efficiency of load force.
the technical data of the ASPE is summarized in Table 3. The ankle joint of ASPE was designed with two rotational DOFs
corresponding to the plantar flexion/dorsiflexion, varus/valgus
3. Mechanical structure of ASPE of the human ankle joint, and coordinating the rotation move-
ment of the hip joint can achieve a full range of movement, see
Considering the natural movement and the basic shape of Fig. 6(b)④. Among them the DOF of the plantar flexion/dorsiflexion
the human body, the mechanical structure of ASPE with high was on the top and the varus/valgus was below, their range
conformity to the human body was designed. This section in- of movement was (−145◦ ∼145◦ ) and (−90◦ ∼90◦ ), respectively,
troduced the design of the ASPE in detail, including its joint which can avoid movement interference between the exoskele-
settings, heteromorphic curved structure, and self-stabilization ton ankle and human ankle. The ankle joint height adjustment
mechanism module. module between the DOF of the plantar flexion/dorsiflexion and
the varus/valgus accurately matched the movement center of
3.1. Joint settings exoskeleton and the human ankle joint. The ankle joint structure
was fixedly connected to the sole structure and the sole structure
In order to adapt to the main movement of the human body, was the same as the normal shoe type so that the stability of the
the DOF of ASPE was designed to have the joint settings, in- exoskeleton sole structure on the ground was reliable.
cluding hip flexion/extension, adduction/abduction, and inter-
nal/external rotation, knee flexion/extension, as well as ankle 3.2. The design of heteromorphic curved structure
joint plantar-flexion/dorsiflexion and valgus/Varus, see Fig. 6(a).
In order to carry the load well, a balanced load-bearing plate The structure of the ASPE included a balanced load-bearing
was designed on the human back, see Fig. 6(b)①. The location structure, two heteromorphic curved lower limb structures and
6
N. Zhou, Y. Liu, Q. Song et al. Robotics and Autonomous Systems 153 (2022) 104079

Fig. 6. The design of ASPE. The (a): the main movement forms of human includes hip flexion/extension, adduction/abduction, and internal/external rotation, knee
flexion/extension, as well as ankle joint plantar-flexion/dorsiflexion and valgus/Varus. The (b) : the ASPE consists of five parts, ①is a balanced load-bearing plate, ②is
the hip joint of the ASPE, ③is the knee joint of the ASPE, ④is the ankle joint of the ASPE, ⑤is the elastic unit.

two ground support structures as shown in Fig. 6(b). The entire

exoskeleton structure adopted a humanoid design, and the struc-
tural shape was basically composed of a special-curved surface,
which could perfectly fit the human body and was compatible
with the change of the body in movement.
The anterior thigh structure started from the downward side
structure of the exoskeleton hip joint, rotated and expanded to
the anterior side of the thigh along the inverted conical structure
of the human thigh. The thigh structure bifurcated at the point
before 120 mm on both sides of the human knee joint, and
finally formed two curved branches at the knee joint. The semi-
circular arch bridge structure was designed at the end points of
the knee joint, which its midpoint and the bifurcation point were
connected to each other. These design can increase the strength
of the structure and form a mechanical limit at the knee joint
to avoid human–machine interference during the human knee
joint movements. The upper part of the ASPE calf was designed
to imitate the surface of the knee joint and connected the front
structure of the ASPE thigh. Considering that there was a certain
lateral misalignment between the human calf and knee, the ASPE
calf structure was offset 10 mm laterally on the knee symmetry
line to match the human calf. The ASPE thigh and calf were both
made of carbon fiber, which had the advantages of high strength
and light weight. The physical figure was shown in Fig. 7.

3.3. Self-stabilization module

Based on the self-stabilization mechanism, an elastic unit was
added on the front side of the human lower limb and its elastic
tension could form a pair of mutually balanced moments with
the load gravity at the center of the exoskeleton hip joint. In
addition, the waist structure was fixed relative to the exoskeleton
hip joint, thus reducing the overall DOF of the exoskeleton and
Fig. 7. The heteromorphic curved structure. The heteromorphic curved structure
mainly included the structure of the front side of the ASPE thigh and the ASPE
calf.
improving the transmission efficiency of the load force. In order
to balance the downward load gravity, elastic band was designed

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N. Zhou, Y. Liu, Q. Song et al. Robotics and Autonomous Systems 153 (2022) 104079

Fig. 8. Changes in plantar pressure and joint angle during a gait cycle. The red curve represents Fy3 , the yellow curve represents the knee flexion angle, and the
blue curve represents the hip flexion angle.

Table 4 supporting force of the ground to the ASPE. The transmission

Parameters used in simulation. efficiency of load force η1 can be simply calculated as:
Symbol Meaning Value
Fy3
d2 Distance between Ft action point and 0.25 m η1 = 100% (18)
hip joint G
d3 Distance between Fc action point and 0.2 m It could be preliminarily calculated that the transmission effi-
knee joint ciency of load was more than 70% during the stance phase, which
L2 Thigh length of ASPE 0.55 m basically achieved the design purpose of the ASPE to enhance the
L3 Calf length of ASPE 0.45 m ability to transport loads.
θ2 Hip angle Fitting function of
measured data 4.2. Human walking experiment with the ASPE
θ3 Knee angle Fitting function of
measured data
The simulation results showed that the ASPE had a good force
transmission efficiency during the human movement. However,
it may be affected by factors such as load, walking speed, stride
between the binding ring in front of the waist and the front side and other factors in the actual walking. In order to test the
of the ASPE thigh, see Fig. 6(b)⑤. When the ASPE thigh structure force transmission efficiency of the ASPE in different movement
followed the periodic movement of the human lower limb, the patterns, we made the human walking experiments with the
elastic bands would deform periodically, which its elastic tension ASPE. The experiment was set as: The experimenter carried a load
would balance the counterclockwise moment of the load force of 10 kg and completed two sets of tests at walking speeds of
on the load-bearing plate and assist flexion of ASPE thighs and 1 km/h, 2 km/h, 3 km/h, 4 km/h, including with and without the
human hip joints. ASPE.
In order to achieve a stable walking speed, we used a tread-
mill as the test platform, and adjusted the walking speed of
4. Simulation and experiment
the platform according to the experimental scheme (shown in
Fig. 9). To collect the tester’s plantar pressure data, we used the
4.1. Simulation of force transmission device Functional Assessment of Biomechanics (FAB) (a wireless
plantar pressure testing device, NEODYN Company, Canada). We
Ideally, the movement between the ASPE and the human body involved 7 volunteer (N = 7; age = 25.2 ± 0.98 years; mass =
was the same, the angles of the ASPE joints during walking could 74.2 ± 1.4 kg; heigh = 1.77 ± 0.039 m; mean ± s.d) to participate
be equal to the angle of the human joints. In order to obtain the in the experiment. The participant was in good health, had no
efficiency of load transmission of the ASPE under human driving recent history of illness, no gait deformity and the experience of
force, we used MATLAB to calculate the force transmission based active exoskeleton experiment. The participant was provided in-
on the formula (8). The parameters used in the simulation were formed consent form for the experiment, and the experiment was
shown in Table 4. These values came from the measured data of approved by the Sports Science Experimental Ethics Committee of
the existed prototype of the exoskeleton. Beijing Sport University (No. 2019007H).
According to the data in Table 4, the simulation results were In order to ensure the reliability of the test data, each walking
shown in Fig. 8: continued for 5 min. The formula for calculating the transmission
In Fig. 8, when carrying a weight of 100 N, the plantar pressure efficiency of load force η2 was as follows:
of the ASPE changed with the human hip and knee flexion angle.
Z1 − Z2
When the ASPE was nearly upright, the force Fy3 was greater than η2 = 100% (19)
90N, and it maintained above 70N during the entire stance phase, G
which meant that the human body was equivalent to a state of Where Z1 was the plantar pressure when walking without ASPE
no or little weight bearing. and Z2 was the plantar pressure when walking with ASPE. After
During the stance phase, since the exoskeleton sole structure processing the experimental data, the force transmission effi-
was fixed to the ground, the force Fy3 could be regarded as the ciency at different speeds was shown in Fig. 10.
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N. Zhou, Y. Liu, Q. Song et al. Robotics and Autonomous Systems 153 (2022) 104079

Table 5
The characterization of the subjects included in our questionnaire, n = 11.
Subject Age (years) Weight (kg) Height (cm) Gender
1 28 142 177 M
2 27 128 176 M
3 27 134 180 M
4 24 143 183 M
5 23 144 170 M
6 23 133 166 M
7 22 94 163 F
8 25 125 168 M
9 26 156 171 M
10 23 118 172 M
11 27 109 166 F

5. Results and discussion

5.1. Results

Keeping exoskeletal mass low was of critical importance. In

Fig. 9. Treadmill test. We chose a backpack as the load to complete the test of
walking with and without the ASPE. The wireless transmission equipment was
fixed on the calf and our computer would receive its data remotely.
Fig. 10. Efficiency of plantar pressure transmission. We tested the efficiently
of the ASPE force transmission during walking at walking speeds of 1 km/h,
2 km/h, 3 km/h, 4 km/h.
In Fig. 10, the efficiency of the force transmission was not
follow a clear trend with the increased walking speed, but the
intent of the design of ASPE to reduce the pressure of load on
human body was verified basically. Among them the best effect
of walking with ASPE is walking at the speed of 4 km/h, and its
standard deviation is smallest within ±1.5%.
In addition, for the experimental results that cannot be quan-
tified, this paper designed a questionnaire to consult the comfort
of wearing ASPE and the feelings of human trunk and thigh so
as to test the practical effect of ASPE. The characterization of the
subjects included in our questionnaire was shown in Table 5 and
the questions and results of the questionnaire was provided by
the supplementary materials.
9
this study, we adopted the combination of multiple materials to
lighten the weight of the ASPE, including of aluminum alloy, tita-
nium alloy and carbon fiber. The structure in the vertical direction
was made of titanium alloy, the horizontal structure was made of
aluminum alloy, and carbon fiber was used to manufacture the
ASPE calf, thigh and load-bearing plate. The weight of the ASPE
was 3.5 kg, which was lower than the prototype in Ref. [23].
In Fig. 7, the heteromorphic curved low-limb structure fitted
the human lower limbs and the Length adjustment module in
the ASPE changed the exoskeletal height, which aligned human–
machine joints ’rotational center so as to ensure the consistency
of movement between the ASPE and the human body. Though
the wearing experiment of different participants, the ASPE could
adapt to people with a height range of 165 cm to 180 cm.
During the exoskeletal load-carrying experiments, although
the transmission efficiency of load force was different at different
walking speeds (see Fig. 10), the ability of the ASPE to transfer
the load gravity to the ground when following the human body
movement was basically verified. The transmission efficiency of
load force was about 68.9% at a walking speed of 4 km/h, which
was close to the result of simulation calculation. Although the
simulation calculation was only the calculation result of a stance
period, it tested that the ASPE has a higher load transfer capacity.
For the experimental results that could not be quantified, the
questionnaire consultation was a good method. Results showed
that the ASPE could effectively reduce the human body’s weight-
bearing feeling, and basically achieved the coordination of human–
machine movement: (1) compared to without the ASPE, the
shoulder pressure was significantly reduced when wearing the
exoskeleton; (2) The straps in the self-stabilization mechanism
provided a certain degree of assistance when the hip joint swing
forward; (3) When walking with the ASPE, the experimenter’s
lower limbs did not feel a significant sense of weight; (4) The
experimenter did not feel obvious binding force when wearing
the ASPE during walking.
5.2. Discussion
Exoskeletons had been developed that strengthen human abil-
ity by providing assistive torques for human joints or supporting
a load for wearer. The ASPE and the lower limb exoskeleton in
Ref. [29], the underactuated exoskeleton in Ref. [30], was located
between legs with extensive fastening to the user; the ASPE had
several advantages including light weight because it needed no
external actuator and battery. Unlike active exoskeletons, the
ASPE depended largely on the rigid structure to support a payload
N. Zhou, Y. Liu, Q. Song et al.
to decrease the internal forces in the human joints and plantar
forces. Compared to the underactuated exoskeleton in Ref. [31],
the ASPE utilized elastic band to balance back torque causing
by loaded backpack and assisted hip flexion, which was more
compact than the combination of spring and motor in the hip
of the underactuated exoskeleton, moreover, the load-bearing
structure above the hip joint was relatively fixed by elastic band,
which increased load transmission efficiency.
Considering the transmission efficiency of load force in the
rigid structure and essential DOF in exoskeleton, the design of
exoskeleton knee joint was a key technology in the lower limb
exoskeleton. For example, Ref. [20] developed a dual-snap-fit
mechanism and [21] adopted clutch controlled by drivers to
lock exoskeleton knee joint in the stance phase and unlock the
exoskeleton knee joint in the swing phase. Although providing
body weight support to the user in the stance phase and avoiding
affecting the lower limbs swing in the swing phase, it needed
user to adjust self-balance because the two was not attached
to the user legs. Compared to the LEE in Ref. [20], 68.9% of
reducing plantar forces by the ASPE was much higher than 29.9%,
which showed that single hinge had a higher transmission ef-
ficiency. Furthermore, special design in exoskeletal knee joint
could limit their usage environment because human movement
changed with different terrain.
From the experimental results, there was obvious differences
in the transmission efficiency of load force at different walking
speeds [32]. This might be caused by the difference in walking
stability when wearing the ASPE [16], the participant instinctively
bore the ASPE and the load gravity when walked irregularly so
that the plantar pressure were not significantly reduced. Further-
more, the change of the joint angle was also influenced by the
walking stability, the efficiency of the load force transmission
would decrease when the joint angles were too large based on
the work principle of the passive exoskeleton.
With regard to the self-stabilization module, another reason
might be that the moment produced by load gravity was not bal-
anced by the elastic band, therefore, the transmission efficiency
would decline when the waist structure was out-of-balanced. In
our experiment, the elastic band stiffness obtained by measured
was 2125 N/m, which was enough to achieve the balance of
moment produced by load gravity during stance phase, however,
when walking with the ASPE, the balanced state might be de-
stroyed in that the distance between the two fixed points of
elastic band would decrease due to the state of bending down
during walking with load [33].
According to the experiment’s questionnaire, the pressure that
should have been applied to the shoulders was transferred to
the lower extremities through the self-stabilization mechanism,
which decreased the pressure of human torso. Besides, the ASPE
could help the body’s thigh swing and relieved the fatigue of
thigh swing. For the interaction forces between the ASPE and the
human lower extremity, the design of the heteromorphic curved
structure could increase the adaptability of wearing the ASPE in
that the way the human body provides the driving force was its
usual way from the perspective of human dynamics.
Although the self-stabilization mechanism was only applied to
the hip joint of the ASPE, according to the similarity of the move-
ments of the human joints, it was hoped that the exoskeleton
knee and ankle joints would be innovatively designed to alleviate
the driving force required by the human lower limbs.
6. Conclusion
Based on the mechanism analysis of passive exoskeleton, the
ASPE with the advantages of lightweight, movement compatibil-
ity and passive assistance has been designed and analyzed. Both
10
Robotics and Autonomous Systems 153 (2022) 104079
the simulation and experiment were conducted to preliminarily
evaluate the performance of the ASPE, these results proved that
the ASPE could reduce the plantar pressure obviously. Compared
to different prototypes, the ASPE not only has the capacity of load
force transmission, but also can adapt to various usage environ-
ments and different users. The innovation of this paper lies in: (1)
based on structural mechanics analysis, a method of combining
materials was proposed to reduce the weight of the prototype;
(2) humanoid structure design was more conducive to human–
machine movement compatibility and structural stability; (3) a
self-stabilization mechanism was presented, which could redis-
tribute the human–machine interaction forces and achieve the
self-stabilization of the passive exoskeleton to improve its load
transmission efficiency. The idea of arranging ESC in the pas-
sive exoskeleton to reduce the human–machine interaction force
and promote its load transmission efficiency proposed a new
development direction for the research of passive exoskeleton.
Funding
The study was funded by grants from the Ministry of Science
and Technology national key R&D program (Grant Number :
2017YFB1300500), the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (Grant No. 51905035), and Science and Technology Innova-
tion Special Zone Youth Project (Grant No. 2016312ZT00200203).
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
We thank Yue Zhou and Peidong Ma from Beijing Sports Uni-
versity for providing the lab experiments and giving suggestions
for the analysis. We thank all the participants in this study.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary material related to this article can be found
online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.robot.2022.104079.
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Nengbing Zhou received his B.Sc. degree in 2016 from
CHINA UNIVERSITY OF LABOR RELATIONS, received
his M.Sc. degree in 2018 from BEIJING INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY, now he is PHD in BEIJING INSTITUTE
OF TECHNOLOGY. His main research interests include
Overall Technology of Weapon System and Wearable
Robots.
Email: 3120185161@bit.edu.cn
Yali Liu received her B.Sc. degree in 2013 from Bei-
hang University, received her Ph.D. degree in 2018
from Tsinghua University. She is an Assistant Professor
with the School of Mechatronical Engineering, Beijing
Institute of Technology. Her main research interests
include the human motor physiology and the wearable
exoskeleton robot technology.
Email: buaaliuyali@126.com
Qiuzhi Song received his B.Sc. degree in 1992 from
Wuhan University, received his M.Sc. degree in 1995
from Wuhan University of Technology, received his
Ph.D. degree in 2003 from Huazhong University of
Science and Technology. He is a Professor with the
Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering,
Beijing Institute of Technology. His main research inter-
ests include the overall design technology of wearable
exoskeleton robot.
Email: qzhsong@bit.edu.cn
Zhuo Qi received his B.Ec. degree in 2012 from China
Three Gorges University, received his M.Sc. degree in
2015 from Beijing University of Technology, now he is
a Ph.D. candidate from Beijing Institute of Technology.
His research interests mainly include the design of
lower exoskeleton robot and human movement inten-
tion recognition.
Email: 2008105423@163.com
Weizhi Ren received his B.Sc. degree in 2019 from
Beijing Institute of Technology, now he is M.Sc. in Bei-
jing Institute of Technology. His main research interests
include overall technology of exoskeletons and robotic
system.
Email: 18811371368@163.com
Kun Zhang received his M.Sc. degree in 2018 from
Beijing University of Technology, and now he is an
engineer of exoskeleton robots in Advanced technology
research institute, Beijing Institute of Technology.
Email: zhangkun0535@163.com

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