Tag Archives: ankle exoskeleton

Ankle exoskeletons good for people who need to do a lot of walking or running on the job

For people who need a little extra ankle support, this might be useful in the, hopefully, not too distant future.

The new ankle exoskeleton design integrates into the shoe and under clothing. Submitted photo. Courtesy of Vanderbilt University Credit: Matthew Yandell

A March 22, 2019 news item on ScienceDaily announces this latest research,

A new lightweight, low-profile and inexpensive ankle exoskeleton could be widely used among elderly people, those with impaired lower-leg muscle strength and workers whose jobs require substantial walking or running.

Developed by Vanderbilt mechanical engineers, the device is believed to be the first ankle exoskeleton that could be worn under clothes without restricting motion. It does not require additional components such as batteries or actuators carried on the back or waist.

A March 21, 2019 Venderbilt University news release (also on EurekAlert but published March 22, 2019), offers more detail,

The study, published online by IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems & Rehabilitation Engineering, builds on a successful and widely cited ankle exoskeleton concept from other researchers in 2015.

“We’ve shown how an unpowered ankle exoskeleton could be redesigned to fit under clothing and inside/under shoes so it more seamlessly integrates into daily life,” said Matt Yandell, a mechanical engineering Ph.D. student and lead author of the study.

In a significant design advancement, the team invented an unpowered friction clutch mechanism that fits under the foot or shoe and is no thicker than a typical shoe insole. The complete device, which includes a soft shank sleeve and assistive spring, weighs just over one pound.

The unpowered ankle exoskeleton costs less than $100 to fabricate, without factoring in optimized design for manufacturing and economies of scale.

“Our design is lightweight, low profile, quiet, uses no motor or batteries, it is low cost to manufacture, and naturally adapts to different walking speeds to assist the ankle muscles,” said Karl Zelik, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and senior author on the study.

Zelik will be presenting this work next week at the Wearable Robotics Association Conference in Phoenix, Arizona [March 26-28, 2019].

The potential applications are broad, from helping aging people stay active to assisting recreational walkers, hikers or runners, he said.

“It could also help reduce fatigue in occupations that involve lots of walking, such as postal and warehouse workers, and soldiers in the field,” Zelik said.

Joshua Tacca, BE’18, also is a co-author. He is now a graduate student in the Integrative Physiology Department at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Several other Vanderbilt undergraduate engineering students also contributed to the device design and pilot testing.

I wonder if this device requires a particular kind of shoe. In any event, here’s a link to and a citation for the study,

Design of a Low Profile, Unpowered Ankle Exoskeleton That Fits Under Clothes: Overcoming Practical Barriers to Widespread Societal Adoption by Matthew B. Yandell, Joshua R. Tacca, and Karl E. Zelik. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems & Rehabilitation Engineering 2019; 1 DOI: 10.1109/TNSRE.2019.2904924 Date of Publication: 14 March 2019 (early access)

This study appears to be behind a paywall