Autonomous multi-joint soft exosuit with augmentation-power-based control parameter tuning reduces energy cost of loaded walking.
Sangjun Lee, Jinsoo Kim, Lauren Baker and 5 others
PMID 30001726WHAT IT FOUND
An autonomous soft exosuit cut the energy cost of carrying a 6.8 kg load by 14.88% compared to walking without it.
The suit used an automatic tuning method based on ankle power to customize assistance for each of the seven healthy male participants.
Key findings
01Walking with the active exosuit reduced net metabolic cost by 14.88% compared to walking without the device.
02The device automatically customized control parameters for each wearer using only onboard sensors, without requiring respiratory measurement equipment.
03The study did not isolate the specific metabolic benefit provided by the automatic tuning algorithm itself.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study included only seven healthy male adults, limiting generalizability to other demographics or patient groups. Walking was performed on a treadmill at a fixed speed, which does not reflect the variability of overground walking. The experiment did not isolate the metabolic benefit of the automatic tuning algorithm from the benefit of the exosuit itself. The specific biomechanical mechanisms behind the metabolic reduction were not fully explained due to limited measurements.
Declared interests
The authors declared no competing interests. The work was supported by non-US government and US government non-PHS research grants.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume the automatic tuning algorithm itself caused the metabolic benefit. The study design did not isolate the effect of the tuning method from the effect of the exosuit hardware, so it is unclear how much of the 14.88% reduction was due to the personalized parameters versus the assistance provided by the device in general.