Development of Variable Reaction Force Mechanism for Biomimetic Semi-active Knee Supporter

Abstract

In the previous study, we developed a polycentric biomimetic knee joint (PC-BKJ) for assisting human standing motion. However, the PC-BKJ is limited for use on level grounds. Therefore, we are developing a semi-active PC-BKJ (SA-BKJ) to assist walking on uneven terrains with a variable reaction force mechanism. In this study, the basic structures of the SA-BKJ were proposed and its first prototype was developed.