Miha Dezman

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology | KIT · Institute of Anthropomatics

This paper presents a lightweight and low-inertia cable-driven upper-limb exoskeleton powerful enough to meet the requirements for activities of daily living. It presents the mechanical design, kinematic structure,the underlying actuation system, sensors, other electronic components as well as the controller of the exoskeleton. The extensive effect...

State-of-the-art compliant actuators with variable stiffness, meet the requirements for exoskeletons only to a limited extent, usually due to their higher mechanical complexity and large mass. In this paper, we present a quasi-passive lightweight pneumatic mechanism that emulates stiffness modulation in the pneumatic cylinder using fast-switching v...

Quasi-passive exoskeletons have emerged as a solution that avoids the high energy requirements that negatively affect the efficiency of exoskeletons. These exoskeletons do not deliver positive mechanical work to the joint, but accumulate and deliver energy in a viscoelastic element that is actively placed or removed parallel to the user's muscles....

Our pseudo-linear variable-lever variable stiffness actuator (PLVL-VSA) allows almost linear torque deflection characteristics in a compact form. However, in its original form, this advantage of the PLVL-VSA comes at a cost of increased stiffness variation torque, which limits the passive deflection range. In this work we propose a modification of...

This paper presents a novel variable stiffness mechanism based on the combination of a rotatable cam and a variable-ratio lever principle. The proposed configuration results in i) a pseudo-linear torque/deflection characteristics, where ii) the stiffness is varied rotationally and perpendicularly to the external load. The first is convenient for ea...

Among the growing number of different exoskeletons, passive and quasi-passive solutions hold the upper-hand compared to powered solutions in price, accessibility, complexity, weight and user acceptance. This paper evaluates a modification of an originally passive ankle exoskeleton with an active clutch, making it quasi-passive. We developed an elec...

Exoskeletons can be utilized for rehabilitation purposes as well as for assistance and augmentation of motion of patients with disabilities, workers, elderly and even healthy people. Compared to powered solutions, unpowered passive exoskeletons have been shown to have significantly higher chances of end user acceptance, because of simpler design, n...