Title :
Smart Suit: Soft power suit with semi-active assist mechanism - prototype for supporting waist and knee joint -
Author :
Tanaka, Takayuki ; Satoh, Yuta ; Kaneko, Shun Ichi ; Suzuki, Yoshihito ; Sakamoto, Naohisa ; Seki, Shuji
Author_Institution :
Grad. Sch. of Inf. Sci. & Technol., Hokkaido Univ., Sapporo
Abstract :
We have been developing ldquoSmart Suitrdquo as a soft and light-weight wearable power assist system. A prototype for preventing low-back injury in agricultural works and its semi-active assist mechanism have been developed in the previous study. The previous prototype succeeded to reduce about 14% of average muscle fatigues of body trunk in waist extension/flexion motion. In this paper, we describe a prototype of smart suit for supporting waist and knee joint, and its control method for preventing the displacement of the adjustable assist force mechanism in order to keep the assist efficiency.
Keywords :
agriculture; biomechanics; ergonomics; medical control systems; orthotics; agricultural works; knee Joint; light-weight wearable power assist system; low-back injury; muscle fatigues; semiactive assist mechanism; smart suit; soft power suit; waist extension/flexion motion; waist joint; Automatic control; Displacement control; Exoskeletons; Force control; Force sensors; Injuries; Joints; Knee; Muscles; Prototypes; Biomechanical design; Force sensorless; Power assist; Semi-active mechanism;
Conference_Titel :
Control, Automation and Systems, 2008. ICCAS 2008. International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Seoul
Print_ISBN :
978-89-950038-9-3
Electronic_ISBN :
978-89-93215-01-4
DOI :
10.1109/ICCAS.2008.4694428
