Powered Super Tail: A Terrain-Adaptive Wheel-legged Robotic Limb to Assist Human's Load Carriage

Xiang，Yanzhen1,2; Yan，Xiaoyu1,2; Su，Hanqi1,2; Chen，Nuo1,2; Guo，Shangkun1,2; Wu，Jielin1,2; Leng，Yuquan1,2; Fu，Chenglong1,2

10.1109/M2VIP49856.2021.9665086

2021

27th International Conference on Mechatronics and Machine Vision in Practice (M2VIP)

978-1-6654-3154-5

2021 27th International Conference on Mechatronics and Machine Vision in Practice, M2VIP 2021

676-681

NOV 26-28, 2021

null,Shanghai,PEOPLES R CHINA

345 E 47TH ST, NEW YORK, NY 10017 USA

IEEE

Load carriage is a common demand in humans' daily life. Long time load carriage often causes significant energy expenditure for the body and may even bring physical problems like muscle strain. Variations in terrains and ground conditions are usually inevitable in such scenarios, which disrupts humans' gait and leads to even more energy expenditure. In this paper, a wheel-legged robotic limb, Powered Super Tail (PST) to assist human's load carriage in varying terrains and ground conditions is proposed. The PST system mainly consists of a support rod transferring load to the ground and a pair of stepping triple wheel groups adaptable to different terrain conditions including ground barriers, stairs and rough roads. Driven by a pair of motors, uplifting support for the load and appropriate force assistance could be effectively provided by the support rod, and thus energy expenditure of human body could be reduced. The system's performance on human body was tested. It is shown that the stepping triple wheel group could successfully traverse barriers of different heights and ascend stairs. The effect of the system on human body standing and walking on flat ground were respectively evaluated under three experimental conditions including 1) with the load only (LOAD, 16.42 kg); 2) with the powered PST (PST_ON, 27.30 kg); 3) with unpowered PST (PST_OFF, 27.30 kg). And the percentage of metabolic power consumption reduction was the metric for evaluation. Experiments demonstrate the following results: during standing, the metabolic power consumption under PST_ON is lowered by 5.42% compared to LOAD and 12.56% compared to PST_OFF; and during walking, the metabolic power consumption is lowered by 20.85% compared to LOAD and 36.58% compared to PST_OFF.

Human Performance Augmentation Human-Robot Collaboration Wearable Robotics

第一 ; 通讯

英语

CPCI-S ; EI

National Natural Science Foundation of China[U1913205];

Automation & Control Systems ; Computer Science ; Engineering

Automation & Control Systems ; Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence ; Engineering, Multidisciplinary

WOS:000783817900116

20220811682703

Electric power utilization ; Loads (forces) ; Metabolism ; Robotics ; Robots ; Stairs ; Walking aids ; Wearable technology

Buildings and Towers:402 ; Structural Design:408 ; Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology:461.5 ; Biomedical Equipment, General:462.1 ; Machine Components:601.2 ; Electric Power Systems:706.1 ; Robotics:731.5

2-s2.0-85124797823

Scopus

1.Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Biomimetic Robotics and Intelligent Systems and Guangdong Provincial,Key Laboratory of Human-Augmentation and Rehabilitation Robotics in Universities,Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,518055,China
2.Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering,Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,518055,China

Xiang，Yanzhen,Yan，Xiaoyu,Su，Hanqi,et al. Powered Super Tail: A Terrain-Adaptive Wheel-legged Robotic Limb to Assist Human's Load Carriage[C]. 345 E 47TH ST, NEW YORK, NY 10017 USA:IEEE,2021:676-681.