An animal mobility device to be used with an animal who lacks full functional use of its rear legs, providing the animal with two modes of operation, with the first mode of operation being active, whereby the animal propels itself by its front legs while having its rear portion supported by the device, and with the second mode of operation being passive, whereby a human operator propels the device while the entirety of the animal is supported by the device.

In some embodiments, a body anchor for supporting an assistive device can include: a cuff to exert a compression force on a body part of a user; and one or more tensile elements having first ends and second ends. The first ends of the tensile elements can be configured to be attached to the assistive device. The second ends of the tensile elements can be arranged about the cuff to cause the compression force to vary in proportion to a load exerted by the assistive device.

This application relates to an actuation system for assistive wearable devices such as exoskeletons designed to actuate a joint of a wearer of the device. The actuation system includes a differential pulley drum having a first drum portion and a second drum portion, the first drum portion and the second drum portion having different radii. The differential pulley drum is located at a first end of the actuator. The actuation system further includes a motor coupled to the differential pulley drum and configured to rotate the differential pulley drum, a second pulley located at a second end of the actuator, a flexible sleeve that extends between the differential pulley drum and the second pulley, and a strand that extends from the differential pulley drum to the second pulley through the flexible sleeve.

An embodiment includes an exoskeleton robotic system including: a first linkage; a bearing coupled to the first linkage; a joint including a motor configured to move the first linkage along the bearing; an axial load sensor configured to sense an axial force transmitted to the axial load sensor via the joint, the axial force including one of tension or compression but not torque; a bracket including first and second bracket locations and first and second arms; and a housing that includes at least part of the joint and which couples the bracket to the bearing. The bracket couples to the housing at the first bracket location and couples to the axial load sensor at the second bracket location. The first arm couples the second arm to the first bracket location, and the second arm couples the first arm to the second bracket location.

The invention relates to exoskeletons and artificial muscles for soft exoskeletons (1). The muscle (21, 22, 23, 24) comprises a first (211, 221, 231, 241) and second (212, 222, 232, 242) tendon, each comprising an attachment means (227) for attachment of said muscle to a muscle connector (32) of the exoskeleton (1), and a muscle core (223) made of a deformable material extending between said first (211, 221, 231, 241) and second (212, 222, 232, 242) tendon, the muscle core (223) preferably comprising an outer sleeve (225); wherein each of the first (211, 221, 231, 241) and second tendon (212, 222, 232, 242) is adapted for receiving a respective end of said muscle core (223); wherein the first tendon (211, 221, 231, 241) preferably comprises an actuation interface (229) for connection of said muscle core (223) to an actuator for generating an actuation; wherein the muscle core (223) is adapted to undergo a change in length when being actuated, thereby causing the first (211, 221, 231, 241) and second (212, 222, 232, 242) tendon to move towards each other when said actuation received via the actuation interface is on or increased, and to move away from each other when said actuation is off or reduced.

A knee movement support device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is a knee movement support device attached to a leg of a user, and includes: an upper leg link fastened to an upper leg of the user; a lower leg link fastened to a lower leg of the user; and an interval adjusting portion disposed between the upper leg of the user and the upper leg link or between the lower leg of the user and the lower leg link.

A driving module including a driving source configured to generate power, a gear train including a decelerating gear set configured to receive driving power from the driving source and a ring gear attached to one side thereof, and a rotary joint including at least one planetary gear configured to rotate using power received from an output end of the decelerating gear set and to revolve along the ring gear is disclosed.

The present invention provides an actuator-equipped knee ankle foot orthosis in which a control device calculates a thigh phase angle based on an angle-related signal detected by a thigh orientation detecting means at one sampling point, applies the thigh phase angle at that sampling point to an assisting force control data, which is stored in the control device in advance and indicates the relationship between the thigh phase angle and a size of the assisting force to be imparted to a lower leg-side brace, to obtain the size of the assisting force to be imparted to the lower leg-side brace at that sampling point, and executes operational control for an actuator unit such that the assisting force having the size is output.

Examples of a motion guiding device of a target joint of a target body are disclosed. The device allows three degree-of-freedom (DOF) motion about a remote center of rotation that is approximately aligned to a center of rotation of the target joint. The device comprises a base adjustably connected to the target body and three rotary joints interconnected with a network of linkages. One end of the network of linkages is connected to the base and the opposite end to an effector plate. At least one of the three rotary joints is not aligned with an axes of motion of the target joint and any of these rotary joints may be positioned under angle with respect to the others. Each of the rotary joints provides one DOF of rotary motion about the respective axes and each axis of the three rotary joints intersect at the remote center of rotation. The geometry of the network of linkages is adjustable to adjust a position of the remote center of rotation in three dimensions. The three rotary joints and the network of linkages rotate the effector plate about the remote center of rotation that is approximately align with the center of rotation of the target joint. This system may be connected with one or more parallel branches for additional actuation.

An orthopaedic device includes an upper exoskeleton (2, 4) and a lower exoskeleton (6), and a receiving actuator having a pivot-connection member (10). The exoskeleton is hinged with respect to one another via the pivot-connection member. A receiving transmission device (30) is designed to be able to transmit a movement to the pivot-connection member. At least a first hydraulic cylinder (20) is coupled to the receiving transmission device so as to be able to rotate said pivot-connection member. An emitting actuator has at least a first hydraulic emitting cylinder (51, 55), an emitting transmission device (60), and a motor device (70) coupled to the emitting transmission device. At least one pressurized-fluid-guiding line (42, 45) is designed to allow a hydraulic transmission of movement from the first emitting cylinder to the receiving actuator.