A lower extremity exoskeleton for the right leg is assembled using 3D printed soft plastic parts within a semi-rigid frame and structure balancing the rigid and soft flexible components. One leg has been assembled at this time allowing us to test the function of the mechanical system’s frame and structure. The comfort and safety of the exoskeleton is important for increasing the time the exoskeleton can be tolerated by a patient. The knee is the largest and most complicated of the lower extremity joints. This exoskeleton joint accommodates the rotational and sliding movement of the femur at the knee to increase the comfort level by allowing for the inherent anatomical motion of the knee. This is often not taken into consideration for most lower extremity orthopedic braces, exoskeletons, or prosthetics. Surface EMGs and IMUs are utilized as input sensors for the exoskeleton control system. Myo-Ware EMG/IMU sensors from Thalmic labs originally designed for the upper extremity must be adapted for our lower extremity exoskeleton. Pneumatic artificial muscles and Bowdoin cables controlled by electric motors are incorporated to assist movement as needed. The EMG/IMU input data is modified and synchronized by a supervised machine learning sensor fusion algorithm. EMG and IMU characteristics help reduce noise and synchronize input data. A reinforcement unsupervised learning (RL) algorithm determines intention and control the exoskeleton actuators. This depends on adequately implementing the RL network algorithm, thus testing the activities of daily living (standing, sitting, squatting while maintaining balance) are needed.
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