TY - GEN
T1 - Influence of maximum assistive force of a soft wearable robotic suit on metabolic cost reduction
AU - Jin, Shanhai
AU - Guo, Shijie
AU - Hashimoto, Kazunobu
AU - Yamamoto, Motoji
PY - 2017/7/2
Y1 - 2017/7/2
N2 - Metabolic cost during walking is positively associated with exercise intensity. As a walking assistive device, one of the major goals should be the maximization of wearers' metabolic benefits. Toward this goal, this paper experimentally evaluates the influence of maximum assistive force (MAF) of an authors' soft robotic suit, which has been developed to assist hip flexion for energy-efficient walking of elderly persons in daily activities, on metabolic cost reduction. Experiment results show that, for a 79-years-old healthy male subject, the metabolic cost reduction rate of the soft robotic suit was not linearly correlated with the value of MAF in the condition of the robotic suit worn and powered on (PON) compared with that of worn but powered off (POFF). Instead, it is interestingly observed that the metabolic cost was significantly reduced by an average of -12 % in the PON condition with MAF that the subject felt most comfortable with (24.5 N), while the reduction rates were -0.8 % and -3.1 % in the PON condition with MAFs that the subject felt weak (15.7 N) and strong (29.4 N), respectively, showing no significant differences between the two conditions. The findings of this study are beneficial for the future development of soft robotic suits that assist hip flexion of elderly persons.
AB - Metabolic cost during walking is positively associated with exercise intensity. As a walking assistive device, one of the major goals should be the maximization of wearers' metabolic benefits. Toward this goal, this paper experimentally evaluates the influence of maximum assistive force (MAF) of an authors' soft robotic suit, which has been developed to assist hip flexion for energy-efficient walking of elderly persons in daily activities, on metabolic cost reduction. Experiment results show that, for a 79-years-old healthy male subject, the metabolic cost reduction rate of the soft robotic suit was not linearly correlated with the value of MAF in the condition of the robotic suit worn and powered on (PON) compared with that of worn but powered off (POFF). Instead, it is interestingly observed that the metabolic cost was significantly reduced by an average of -12 % in the PON condition with MAF that the subject felt most comfortable with (24.5 N), while the reduction rates were -0.8 % and -3.1 % in the PON condition with MAFs that the subject felt weak (15.7 N) and strong (29.4 N), respectively, showing no significant differences between the two conditions. The findings of this study are beneficial for the future development of soft robotic suits that assist hip flexion of elderly persons.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85049090206&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1109/ICCIS.2017.8274764
DO - 10.1109/ICCIS.2017.8274764
M3 - Conference contribution
T3 - 2017 IEEE International Conference on Cybernetics and Intelligent Systems, CIS 2017 and IEEE Conference on Robotics, Automation and Mechatronics, RAM 2017 - Proceedings
SP - 146
EP - 150
BT - 2017 IEEE International Conference on Cybernetics and Intelligent Systems, CIS 2017 and IEEE Conference on Robotics, Automation and Mechatronics, RAM 2017 - Proceedings
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 8th IEEE International Conference on Cybernetics and Intelligent Systems, CIS 2017 and IEEE Conference on Robotics, Automation and Mechatronics, RAM 2017
Y2 - 19 November 2017 through 21 November 2017
ER -