Development of a power assist suit that supports and transports heavy objects by a link mechanism located inside the wearer's legs

Abstract

In this paper, we present a power assist suit that supports and transports heavy objects with a single motor. The leg mechanism of the power assist suit is made of upper and lower parallel links and springs. It is designed to be located inside the wearer's legs so that the power assist suit becomes small and light-weight, and the stability during transportation is improved. We measured the surface electromyogram (EMG) during luggage lifting experiments and confirmed that the burden of the wearer's back and legs is reduced when wearing the developed power assist suit.