IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2021;29:662-672. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2021.3065389. Epub 2021 Mar 22.
Researchers have found that the walking economy can be enhanced by recycling ankle metabolic energy using an unpowered ankle exoskeleton. However, how to regulate multiarticular energy to enhance the overall energy efficiency of humans during walking remains a challenging problem, as multiarticular passive assistance is more likely to interfere with the human body's natural biomechanics. Here we show that the metabolic energy of the hip and knee musculature can be regulated to a more energy-effective direction using a multiarticular unpowered exoskeleton that recycles negative mechanical energy of the knee joint in the late swing phase and transfers the stored energy to assist the hip extensors in performing positive mechanical work in the stance phase. The biarticular spring-clutch mechanism of the exoskeleton performs a complementary energy recycling and energy transfer function for hip and knee musculature. Through the phased regulation of the hip and knee metabolic energy, the target muscle activities decreased during the whole assistive period of the exoskeleton, which was the direct reason for 8.6 ± 1.5% (mean ± s.e.m) reduction in metabolic rate compared with that of walking without the exoskeleton. The proposed unpowered exoskeleton enhanced the user's multiarticular energy efficiency, which equals improving musculoskeletal structure by adding a complementary loop for efficient energy recycling and energy transfer.
研究人员发现，通过使用无动力踝关节外骨骼回收踝关节代谢能，可以增强步行经济。然而，如何调节多关节能量以提高人类在行走过程中的整体能量效率仍然是一个具有挑战性的问题，因为多关节被动辅助更有可能干扰人体的自然生物力学。在这里，我们展示了使用多关节无动力外骨骼可以将髋关节和膝关节肌肉的代谢能调节到更节能的方向，该外骨骼在摆动后期回收膝关节的负机械能，并将存储的能量转移到髋关节伸肌，以在支撑阶段进行正机械功。外骨骼的双关节弹簧离合器机构为髋关节和膝关节肌肉执行互补的能量回收和能量传递功能。通过对髋关节和膝关节代谢能的分相调节，目标肌肉在整个外骨骼辅助期间的活动减少，这是代谢率与不使用外骨骼行走相比降低 8.6±1.5%（平均值±标准误）的直接原因。所提出的无动力外骨骼提高了用户的多关节能量效率，这相当于通过添加用于高效能量回收和能量传递的补充循环来改善肌肉骨骼结构。
