Imitation of human motion based on variable stiffness actuator and muscle stiffness sensor

A wearable robot is the robotic system capable of augmenting or amplifying the wearer´s muscle strength. To imitate human arms, the recognition of muscle stiffness and the reflection of the motion are very important. In this paper, the upper limb of the wearer is bandaged with the pneumatic muscle stiffness sensor (MSS), and the wearer´s intention is estimated by recognizing the movement of the muscle. In addition, a variable stiffness actuator (VSA) is used to imitate the predicted motion of the wearer and simultaneously to unburden the weight by increasing its stiffness. It is shown that the proposed system is capable of distinguishing between the wearer´s intention and the external load.