Wearable Exoskeleton Systems

Shaoping Bai is an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Aalborg University, Denmark. His research interests include dynamics and design, assistive exoskeletons, parallel manipulators, and walking robots. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Robotics from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Gurvinder Singh Virk is Technical Director at InnotecUK involved in designing and commercialising specialised robotic systems for hazardous environments and service robots for healthcare. His current interests are in wearable exoskeletons; climbing and walking robots, and robot safety standardisation. He has been awarded the Freedom of the City of London for his work and holds a PhD in Control theory from Imperial College, University of London, UK. He has held Professorship positions at several universities in UK, New Zealand, Germany, China, India and Sweden. Thomas Sugar is Professor in the Department of Engineering, The Polytechnic School, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, Arizona State University, USA. He works in the areas of wearable robotics for rehabilitation, gait assistance and enhanced mobility. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics from the University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Section 1: Review and overall requirements

Chapter 1: Lower-limb wearable robotics
Chapter 2: Review of exoskeletons for medical and service applications: ongoing research in Europe on wearable robots, with focus on lower extremity exoskeletons
Chapter 3: Soft wearable robots
Chapter 4: Exploring user requirements for a lower body soft exoskeleton to assist mobility



Section 2: Design and control of exoskeletons

Chapter 5: Design and control of spherical shoulder exoskeletons for assistive applications
Chapter 6: Calibration platform for wearable 3D motion sensors
Chapter 7: Control and performance of upper- and lower extremity SEA-based exoskeletons
Chapter 8: Gait-event-based synchronization and control of a compact portable knee-ankle-foot exoskeleton robot for gait rehabilitation



Section 3: Devices

Chapter 9: Real-time gait planning for a lower limb exoskeleton robot
Chapter 10: Soft wearable assistive robotics: exosuits and supernumerary limbs
Chapter 11: Walking assistive apparatus for gait training patients and promotion exercise of the elderly



Section 4: Commercialization issues

Chapter 12: Regulatory issues for exoskeletons
Chapter 13: Test methods for exoskeletons - lessons learned from industrial and response robotics
Chapter 14: Ekso Bionics