Systems such as powered exoskeletons include a rigid architecture that is worn over the body of a user, which is actuated to induce or support movement of the user. For example, persons with spinal injuries who cannot control portions of their body are able to enjoy movement with such powered exoskeletons. Additionally, able-bodied persons are able to augment their abilities with the use of powered exoskeletons, including increasing walking, running or working endurance and increasing their capacity to lift or otherwise manipulate heavy objects.
However, powered exoskeletons have numerous drawbacks. For example, such systems are extremely heavy because the rigid portions of the exoskeleton are conventionally made of metal and electromotor actuators for each joint are also heavy in addition to the battery pack used to power the actuators. Accordingly, such exoskeletons are inefficient because they must be powered to overcome their own substantial weight in addition the weight of the user and any load that the user may be carrying.
Additionally, conventional exoskeletons are bulky and cumbersome. The rigid metal architecture of the system must extend the length of each body limb that will be powered, and this architecture is congenitally large because it needs to sufficiently strong to support the body, actuators and other parts of the system in addition to loads carried by the user. Portably battery packs must also be large to provide sufficient power for a suitable user period. Moreover, electromotor actuators are conventionally large as well. Unfortunately, because of their large size, conventional exoskeletons cannot be worn under a user's normal clothing and are not comfortable to be worn while not being actively used. Accordingly, users must don the exoskeleton each time it is being used and then remove it after each use. Unfortunately, donning and removing an exoskeleton is typically a cumbersome and time-consuming process. Conventional exoskeletons are therefore not desirable for short and frequent uses.
Additionally, because of their rigid nature, conventional exoskeletons are not comfortable and ergonomic for users and do not provide for complex movements. For example, given their rigid structure, conventional exoskeletons do not provide for the complex translational and rotational movements of the human body, and only provide for basic hinge-like movements. The movements possible with conventional exoskeletons are therefore limited. Moreover, conventional exoskeletons typically do not share the same rotational and translational axes of the human body, which generates discomfort for users and can lead to joint damage where exoskeleton use is prolonged.
In view of the foregoing, a need exists for an improved exomuscle system and method in an effort to overcome the aforementioned obstacles and deficiencies of conventional exoskeleton systems.
It should be noted that the figures are not drawn to scale and that elements of similar structures or functions are generally represented by like reference numerals for illustrative purposes throughout the figures. It also should be noted that the figures are only intended to facilitate the description of the preferred embodiments. The figures do not illustrate every aspect of the described embodiments and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure.
Since currently-available powered exoskeleton systems are deficient, an exomuscle system that provides lightweight and ergonomic actuation of the body can prove desirable and provide a basis for a wide range of applications, such as a system that is wearable under conventional clothing, a system that is soft and pliable, a system that provides for the complex translational and rotational movements of the human body, and/or a system that can be worn comfortably while in use and while not in use. This result can be achieved, according to one embodiment disclosed herein, by an exomuscle system 100 as illustrated in
Turning to
Similarly,
Although
Furthermore, the present disclosure discusses various embodiments of the pneumatic exomuscle system 100 being worn by a human user 101, but in further embodiments, the pneumatic exomuscle system 100 can be adapted for use by non-human users (e.g., animals) or adapted for non-living devices such as robots or the like. For example, one embodiment includes the use of the pneumatic exomuscle system 100 and/or one or more actuator 110 in a robotic arm not worn on the body 101, which is also known as a robotic manipulator.
In various embodiments the chambers 310 can be selectively inflated and deflated to change the shape of the actuator 110. For example, as shown in
In various embodiments, fluid can be introduced and/or exit from the chambers 310 of the actuator 110 via one or more pneumatic line 330. In some embodiments, an actuator 110 can be configured to inflate and/or deflate as a unit (e.g., all chambers 310 of the actuator 110 inflate and/or deflate in concert. However, in some embodiments, chambers 310 can be controlled individually and/or as a group.
For example, as illustrated in
In one preferred embodiment, the actuators 110 can be inflated with air; however, in further embodiments, any suitable fluid can be used to inflate the chambers 310. For example, gasses including oxygen, helium, nitrogen, and/or argon, or the like can be used to inflate and/or deflate the chambers 310. In further embodiments, a liquid such as water, an oil, or the like can be used to inflate the chambers 310.
Actuators 110 can be made of any suitable material. For example, in some embodiments, actuators 110 can comprise a flexible sheet material such as woven nylon, rubber, polychloroprene, a plastic, latex, a fabric, or the like. Accordingly, in some embodiments, actuators 110 can be made of a planar material that is inextensible along one or more plane axes of the planar material while being flexible in other directions. For example,
In various embodiments, one or more inextensible axis of a planar material can be configured to be aligned with various axes of a user wearing an actuator 110 and/or of the actuator 110. For example, referring to
In some embodiments, the actuator can be made of a non-planar woven material that is inextensible along one or more axes of the material. For example, in one embodiment the actuator can be made of a woven fabric tube. The woven fabric material provides inextensibility along the length of the actuator and in the circumferential direction. This embodiment is still able to be configured along the body of the user to align with the axis of a desired joint on the body.
In various embodiments, the actuator can develop its resulting force by using a constrained internal surface length and/or external surface length that are a constrained distance away from each other (e.g. due to an inextensible material as discussed above). In some examples, such a design can allow the actuator to contract on itself, but when pressurized to a certain threshold, the actuator must direct the forces axially by pressing on the end faces of the actuator because there is no ability for the actuator to expand further in volume otherwise due to being unable to extend its length past a maximum length defined by the body of the actuator.
In some embodiments, bladders can be disposed within the chambers 310 and/or the chambers 310 can comprise a material that is capable of holding a desired fluid. The actuators 110 can comprise a flexible, elastic or deformable material that is operable to expand and contract when the chambers 310 are inflated or deflated as described herein. In some embodiments, the actuators 110 can be biased toward a deflated configuration such that the actuator 110 is elastic and tends to return to the deflated configuration when not inflated. Additionally, although actuators 110 shown herein are configured to expand and/or extend when inflated with fluid, in some embodiments, actuators 110 can be configured to shorten and/or retract when inflated with fluid.
In various embodiments, actuators can be configured to surround a joint of a user 101 and have an axis of rotation that is coincident with the axis of rotation of the joint. For example,
In various embodiments, it can be beneficial to have the actuator 110KA inflate and curl about an axis that is coincident with the axis of rotation 510 of the knee joint 202. For example, as shown in
In various embodiments, axes R can be defined by a plane of material, or the like that defines the seam 312. In further embodiments, the material of the seam 312 need not be coincident with such as axis R, and such an axis R can be defined by movement and/or expansion characteristics of the actuator 110.
Similarly,
Additionally, in some embodiments, the example actuators 110 illustrated in
As discussed above, the example actuators 110 illustrated in
In contrast,
In various embodiments, each of the columns A, B, C can be independently controlled. In other words, each of the columns A, B, C can be separately and selectively inflated and/or deflated. For example,
Similarly, if the B-column is inflated, and the C-column is deflated, (not illustrated) the shoulder-actuator 110S would bend inward toward deflated C-column, which would accordingly move the shoulder 105 and arm 102 in this direction. Accordingly, by selectively inflating and/or deflating the outer columns B, C. The shoulder-actuator 110S can move a shoulder 105 and arm 102 from side-to-side in various embodiments (i.e., flexion and extension).
Additionally, the shoulder-actuator 110S can provide for moving the arm 105 up and down (i.e., abduction and adduction). For example, where the A-column is deflated the length L (shown in
Therefore, by varying the inflation and/or deflation of the columns A, B, C, the shoulder-actuator 110S can generate motion of the arm 102 about the shoulder 105 that mimics natural shoulder motions of a user 101. For example, the table below illustrates some example, arm configurations that can be generated by different inflation/deflation configurations of the shoulder-actuator 110S in accordance with some embodiments.
Accordingly, in various embodiments, the example shoulder-actuator 110S can mimic the deltoid muscles of a shoulder 105. For example, in some embodiments, the B-column can be analogous to the posterior deltoid, the A-column can be analogous to the lateral deltoid, and the C-column can be analogous to the anterior deltoid.
Although one example embodiment of a shoulder-actuator 110S is disclosed in
In some embodiments, an exomuscle system 100 can comprise structural supportive elements. For example,
In various embodiments, the upper and lower supports 1010, 1020 are configured to be anisotropic support structures that carry a body load in the axial direction, while also providing for torsional movement. In other words, the supports 1010, 1020 are configured to be stiff and supportive in a vertical direction while also allowing turning and bending of the leg 102. For example, as shown in
In some embodiments, the supports 1010, 1020 can comprise fluid filled or inflated cavities. In further embodiments, the supports can comprise any suitable ridged, flexible, or deformable material. The supports 1010, 1020 can be statically or dynamically inflated in some embodiments. Additionally, while example supports 1010, 1020 are shown being associated with an exomuscle system 100 associated with the legs 102 of a user 101, in further embodiments, supports or similar structures can be configured to be associated with other parts of user body 101, including the arms 102 (See
Supports, and the like, can provide for various applications of an exomuscle system 100, including transferring loads to the ground and relieving such a burden on the user 101. For example, for a user 101 with a weak or disabled muscular system, the load of the user's body 101 can be transferred to supports of the exomuscle system 100. In another example, where a user 101 is carrying a load in his arms 102, in a backpack, or the like, such a load can be transferred to supports of the exomuscle system 100 to reduce the burden on the user 101. Such load transfer and burden reduction can be beneficial in extending the working endurance and capacity of disabled, partially-abled, less-abled, and fully-abled users 101.
For example, in one embodiment, a soldier carrying supplies can walk for an extended period of time and over a greater distance if the load of the supplies is transferred to an exomuscle system 100. Similarly, a warehouse worker can have greater endurance moving boxes, or the like, if such a load is transferred to an exomuscle system 100.
Turning to
In various embodiments, one or more reinforcing structure 1220 can provide resistance to buckling of the actuator 110 as the actuator 110 is inflated and/or deflated. For example, in the embodiment 110F of
In various embodiments, a reinforcing structure 1220 can be designed to allow for compliance in all axes other than the axis of buckling that the reinforcement is trying to reinforce. For example, in the embodiment 110F of
Additionally, although the reinforcing structure 1220 is shown as being a flat curved rectangular piece that extends from an end 309A of the actuator 110, in further embodiments, a reinforcing structure 1220 can comprise rib structures on a portion of the actuation 110, a reinforcing structure that extends lengthwise about and/or from the actuator 110, or the like.
Turning to
In various embodiments, the example system 100D can be configured to move and/or enhance movement of the user 101 wearing the exomuscle system 100D. For example, the control module 1510 can provide instructions to the pneumatic module 1520, which can selectively inflate and/or deflate the actuators 110. Such selective inflation and/or deflation of the actuators 110 can move the body to generate and/or augment body motions such as walking, running, jumping, climbing, lifting, throwing, squatting, or the like.
In some embodiments, such movements can be controlled and/or programmed by the user 101 that is wearing the exomuscle system 100D or by another person. Movements can be controlled in real-time by a controller, joystick or thought control. Additionally, various movements can pre-preprogrammed and selectively triggered (e.g., walk forward, sit, crouch) instead of being completely controlled. In some embodiments, movements can be controlled by generalized instructions (e.g. walk from point A to point B, pick up box from shelf A and move to shelf B).
In further embodiments, the exomuscle system 100D can be controlled by movement of the use 101. For example, the control module 1510 can sense that the user 101 is walking and carrying a load and can provided a powered assist to the user 101 via the actuators 110 to reduce the exertion associated with the load and walking. Accordingly, in various embodiments, the exomuscle system 100D can react automatically without direct user interaction.
In some embodiments the sensors 1513 can include any suitable type of sensor, and the sensors 1513 can be located at a central location or can be distributed about the exomuscle system 100D. For example, in some embodiments, the system 100D can comprise a plurality of accelerometers, force sensors, position sensors, and the like, at various suitable positions, including at the actuators 110 or any other body location. In some embodiments, the system 100D can include a global positioning system (GPS), camera, range sensing system, environmental sensors, or the like.
The pneumatic module 1520 can comprise any suitable device or system that is operable to inflate and/or deflate the actuators 110. For example, in one embodiment, the pneumatic module can comprise a diaphragm compressor as disclosed in co-pending related patent application Ser. No. 14/577,817 filed Dec. 19, 2014, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/918,578, filed Dec. 19, 2013.
The described embodiments are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, and specific examples thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the described embodiments are not to be limited to the particular forms or methods disclosed, but to the contrary, the present disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives.
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/823,523, filed Nov. 27, 2017, which is a continuation-in-part of, and claims the benefit of, U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 14/577,524 filed Dec. 19, 2014, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/918,577, filed Dec. 19, 2013. This application is also related to U.S. Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 14/577,817 filed Dec. 19, 2014, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/918,578, filed Dec. 19, 2013. Each of these applications is hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes.
This invention was made with government support under Contract Number W911QX12C0096 awarded by DARPA under the Maximum Mobility and Manipulation program. The government has certain rights in the invention.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20200230804 A1 | Jul 2020 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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61918577 | Dec 2013 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 15823523 | Nov 2017 | US |
Child | 16827484 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 14577524 | Dec 2014 | US |
Child | 15823523 | US |