Shock Absorbing Exoskeleton for Vertical Mobility System: Concept and Feasibility Study

The goal of this research is to develop a lower-extremity wearable link mechanism (i.e., exoskeleton robot) that is capable of reducing load against targeted body parts such as bones, joints and muscles, for shock absorption that help to support exploration of extreme environments. One of the applications of such exoskeleton is to protect a pilot of a personal vertical mobility system, or JetPack, when landing. The shock absorbing exoskeleton is to introduce series and parallel viscoelasticity to the human skeletal system. The paper presents a pilot study to validate this body-protective exoskeleton concept by analyzing kinematic and dynamic models of a human-exoskeleton coupled system based on a multi-element viscoelastic model in rheology. A proof-of-concept prototype is developed and experimental data is presented.