查看更多>>摘要：This patent application has not been assigned to a company or institution.The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background informa tion supplied by theinventors: “A wide variety of exoskeleton, humanoid, roboti c arms, and other robots or robotic systemsexist which perform tasks in a varie ty of situations and applications. Robotic exoskeletons in particular arewearab le electromechanical devices that have been developed as augmentative devices to assist, enhance,or amplify the physical performance of the wearer or as orthot ic devices for gait rehabilitation or locomotionassistance. Robotic exoskeleton s have potential applications in multiple different fields and may be usedby a variety of different operators. While many exoskeleton systems comprise an upper body exoskeletonportion supported by a lower body exoskeleton portion (e.g., o ne comprising two legs) that interfaces withthe lower body of a human operator upon the operator donning the exoskeleton, lower body exoskeletonsare often com plex in their configuration by comprising multiple actuatable joints to facilita te movement inmultiple degrees of freedom that resemble as closely as possible the kinematics of the human operator dueto these being physically coupled to th e human operator, namely to the legs of the human operator. Thislevel of comple xity within a lower body exoskeleton portion in many instances is not necessary. Indeed,there are many instances where the types of amplified or assisted movem ents and/or maneuvers that ahuman operator may need to perform with the lower b ody exoskeleton portion in order to complete one ormore tasks with the upper bo dy exoskeleton are simple, thus rendering a complex lower body exoskeletonporti on unnecessary in that it possesses a much greater capability than what is neede d. Another wayof stating this is that a complex exoskeleton may possess actuata ble joints, degrees of freedom andvarious components, elements and systems need ed to operate the lower body exoskeleton portion as it isinterfaced with a huma n operator that are only there due to the complex configuration of the lower body exoskeleton to enable the human interface. However, in reality, such complexit ies may be overkill formany tasks that need to be carried out using the upper b ody exoskeleton portion. While a complex lowerbody exoskeleton portion can cert ainly perform simple amplified or movements and/or maneuvers, suchas serving as a support for the upper exoskeleton portion as interfaced with an upper body of the user,facilitating amplified lifting, squatting, bending over, walking from one location to another, etc. by theoperator, it likely does these utilizing a ll available systems, components, degrees of freedom, etc. withinthe lower body exoskeleton portion. In addition, it is recognized that in some instances a low er bodyexoskeleton portion may merely serve as a support for the upper exoskele ton portion, such as for a taskthat can be undertaken and accomplished using on ly the upper body exoskeleton portion. A complex lowerbody exoskeleton can be c ostly and can also be cumbersome, particularly when performing lower bodymoveme nts and/or maneuvers, such as walking, squatting, and even standing for an exten d
NETL
NSTL