A Mechanical Exoskeleton

Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to design a 3-D exoskeleton model based on the mechanism of a kind of two degree-of-freedom suspension system. There are two main systems in the exoskeleton, including weight support system and walking assistive system. The weight support system consists a series of linkages, pulleys and springs, which is able to compensate wearer's weight, make wearer feel much more easier when keeps a crouching posture. The walking assistive system consists clutch system and cable release system, which is able to help exoskeleton walk when led by wearer. In our exoskeleton design, excluding hydraulic and electric systems, we adopt pure mechanical systems, thus the whole system will be simple, light, clean, cheap and easy to build, the power provided by the exoskeleton will not be large. We also introduce the technique of exoskeleton shape optimization, which deserves more research in the future.