Evaluating wearing mobility of wearable robot mechanisms based on measurement

Abstract

Improving wearing mobility is an important issue for wearable robot mechanisms to provide a person wearing the mechanism with improved efficiency of a task and comfortable wearing feel. For evaluating the wearing mobility, relative motion between the mechanism and a human limb wearing the mechanism is considered to be a major factor, because the mechanism is usually fixed tightly to the limb for the purpose of motion support. This paper assumes motion support of a human elbow, and considers evaluation of wearing mobility of a human arm based on measurement data obtained by a sensor device. Evaluation under definitions of some indexes is discussed in this paper. In addition, two mechanical designs, one of which is considered to be typical in wearable elbow mechanisms, are evaluated and compared from the viewpoint of wearing mobility. The comparison suggests that a mechanical design with parallel linkages has potential of improving wearing mobility.