LIGHT EXOSKELETON DESIGN WITH TOPOLOGY OPTIMISATION AND FEM SIMULATIONS FOR FFF TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

Among past years interest in robot‐assisted rehabilitation arose significantly; thus, constructions such as exoskeletons are involved in this process much more often. As patient’s bio‐signals may be included in a control loop of these devices, they may be also used to support the motion of extremities in an everyday life. Therefore, a field of control over them stays a popular research topic. For this reason, an exoskeleton described in a paper was designed. The most important aim of a project was to enable all anatomical movements within ranges required for the lifting of an object while minimising a mass of the device. The following paper consist of a concept of an exoskeleton and description of FEM simulations and topology optimisation applied to decrease the amount of material needed. Moreover, as an exoskeleton was built with FFF 3‐D printing technology, created parts are modelled orthotopically based on nominal mechanical parameters of filaments and directions of their beams. The design is complemented with a short description of control with EMG signals and analysis of load on a user’s muscu loskeletal system.