Development of the IHMC Mobility Assist Exoskeleton

The IHMC Mobility Assist Exoskeleton is a robotic suit that a user can wear for strength augmentation or gait generation. This first generation exoskeleton prototype focuses on providing walking assistance to persons with lower extremity paralysis. The main goal is to successfully enable a person that cannot walk without assistance to walk in a straight line a distance of 15 feet. When in disable assist mode this prototype will rely on the user to provide balance control, and thus an external means for balancing will be required, such as crutches or a walker. Power and control is off board and supplied to the exoskeleton by means of a tether. Rotary series elastic actuators (RSEAs), which have high force fidelity and low impedance were designed to power the joints. This paper describes the design, test results, future work and potential applications of the exoskeleton.