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Designing Exoskeletons focuses on developing exoskeletons, following the lifecycle of an exoskeleton from design to manufacture. It demonstrates how modern technologies can be used at every stage of the process, such as design methodologies, CAD/CAE/CAM software, rapid prototyping, test benches, materials, heat and surface treatments, and manufacturing processes. Several case studies are presented to provide detailed considerations on developing specific topics. Exoskeletons are designed to provide work-power, rehabilitation, and assistive training to sports and military applications. Beginning with a review of the history of exoskeletons from ancient to modern times, the book builds on this by mapping out recent innovations and state-of-the-art technologies that utilize advanced exoskeleton design. Presenting a comprehensive guide to computer design tools used by bioengineers, the book demonstrates the capabilities of modern software at all stages of the process, looking at computer-aided design, manufacturing, and engineering. It also details the materials used to create exoskeletons, notably steels, engineering polymers, composites, and emerging materials. Manufacturing processes, both conventional and unconventional are discussed—for example, casting, powder metallurgy, additive manufacturing, and heat and surface treatments. This book is essential reading for those in the field of exoskeletons, such as designers, workers in research and development, engineering and design students, and those interested in robotics applied to medical devices.

This book enquires from a sociological perspective into contemporary corporeal transformations brought about by exoskeletal devices.Challenging material boundaries of human bodies, their capacities, (in)abilities and skills, exoskeletal devices question social norms of corporeal “deviance” and “extension.” Through multi-sited ethnography, interviews and analyses of contemporary science and technology studies (STS), sociological literature and current approaches from the phenomenology of the body, this book shows how exoskeletons contribute to forging three contemporary “corporeal worlds”: impairment, ability and above-average ability.The text questions deeply held ideas about enhancement and augmentation, corporeal deviance and “normality,” in the three studied fields of rehabilitation, industry and the armed forces. It will appeal to scholars and advanced students across the social sciences and humanities, including from sociology, philosophy, body studies, and science and technology studies.

This book presents the current state of the problem of describing the musculoskeletal system of a person. Models of the destruction of the endoskeleton and the restoration of its functions using exoskeleton are presented. A description is given of new approaches to modeling based on the use of weightless rods of variable length with concentrated masses. The practical application to the tasks of numerical simulation of the movements of the musculoskeletal system of a person is described. Exoskeleton models with variable-length units based on absolutely hard sections and sections that change their telescopic type length have been developed.The book is intended for specialists in the field of theoretical mechanics, biomechanics, robotics and related fields. The book will be useful to teachers, as well as graduate students, undergraduates and senior students of higher educational institutions, whose research interests lie in the modeling of anthropomorphic biomechanical systems.

This book addresses cutting-edge topics in robotics and related technologies for rehabilitation, covering basic concepts and providing the reader with the information they need to solve various practical problems. Intended as a reference guide to the application of robotics in rehabilitation, it covers e.g. musculoskeletal modelling, gait analysis, biomechanics, robotics modelling and simulation, sensors, wearable devices, and the Internet of Medical Things.

This book describes the development of portable, wearable, and highly customizable hand exoskeletons to aid patients suffering from hand disabilities. It presents an original approach for the design of human hand motion assistance devices that relies on (i) an optimization-based kinematic scaling procedure, which guarantees a significant adaptability to the user's hands motion, and (ii) a topology optimization-based design methodology, which allowed the design of a lightweight, comfortable device with a high level of performance. The book covers the whole process of hand exoskeleton development, from establishing a new design strategy, to the construction and testing of hand exoskeleton prototypes, using additive manufacturing techniques. As such, it offers timely information to both researchers and engineers developing human motion assistance systems, especially wearable ones.

This book systematically introduces the bionic nature of force sensing and control, the biomechanical principle on mechanism of force generation and control of skeletal muscle, and related applications in robotic exoskeleton. The book focuses on three main aspects: muscle force generation principle and biomechanical model, exoskeleton robot technology based on skeletal muscle biomechanical model, and SMA-based bionic skeletal muscle technology. This comprehensive and in-depth book presents the author's research experience and achievements of many years to readers in an effort to promote academic exchanges in this field.About the AuthorYuehong Yin received his B.E., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, in 1990, 1995 and 1997, respectively, all in mechanical engineering. From December 1997 to December 1999, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow with Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, where he became an Associate Professor in July 1999. Since December 1999, he has been with the Robotics Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, where he became a Professor and a Tenure Professor in December 2005 and January 2016, respectively. His research interests include robotics, force control, exoskeleton robot, molecular motor, artificial limb, robotic assembly, reconfigurable assembly system, and augmented reality. Dr. Yin is a fellow of the International Academy of Production Engineering (CIRP).

Wearable exoskeletons are electro-mechanical systems designed to assist, augment, or enhance motion and mobility in a variety of human motion applications and scenarios. The applications, ranging from providing power supplementation to assist the wearers to situations where human motion is resisted for exercising applications, cover a wide range of domains such as medical devices for patient rehabilitation training recovering from trauma, movement aids for disabled persons, personal care robots for providing daily living assistance, and reduction of physical burden in industrial and military applications. The development of effective and affordable wearable exoskeletons poses several design, control and modelling challenges to researchers and manufacturers. Novel technologies are therefore being developed in adaptive motion controllers, human-robot interaction control, biological sensors and actuators, materials and structures, etc.

Wearable Technology in Medicine and Health Care provides readers with the most current research and information on the clinical and biomedical applications of wearable technology. Wearable devices provide applicability and convenience beyond many other means of technical interface and can include varying applications, such as personal entertainment, social communications and personalized health and fitness. The book covers the rapidly expanding development of wearable systems, thus enabling clinical and medical applications, such as disease management and rehabilitation. Final chapters discuss the challenges inherent to these rapidly evolving technologies. - Provides state-of-the-art coverage of the latest advances in wearable technology and devices in healthcare and medicine - Presents the main applications and challenges in the biomedical implementation of wearable devices - Includes examples of wearable sensor technology used for health monitoring, such as the use of wearables for continuous monitoring of human vital signs, e.g. heart rate, respiratory rate, energy expenditure, blood pressure and blood glucose, etc. - Covers examples of wearables for early diagnosis of diseases, prevention of chronic conditions, improved clinical management of neurodegenerative conditions, and prompt response to emergency situations

This book reports on the latest advances in concepts and further development of principal component analysis (PCA), discussing in detail a number of open problems related to dimensional reduction techniques and their extensions. It brings together research findings, previously scattered throughout many scientific journal papers worldwide, and presents them in a methodologically unified form. Offering vital insights into the subject matter in self-contained chapters that balance the theory and concrete applications, and focusing on open problems, it is essential reading for all researchers and practitioners with an interest in PCA

Environmental conditions and pressurized spacesuits expose astronauts to problems of fatigue during lengthy extravehicular activities, with adverse impacts especially on the dexterity, force and endurance of the hands and arms. A state-of-the-art exploration in the field of hand exoskeletons revealed that available products are unsuitable for space applications because of their bulkiness and mass. This book proposes a novel approach to the development of hand exoskeletons, based on an innovative soft robotics concept that relies on the exploitation of electroactive polymers operating as sensors and actuators, on a combination of electromyography and mechanomyography for detection of the user's will and on neural networks for control. The result is a design that should enhance astronauts'performance during extravehicular activities. In summary, the advantages of the described approach are a low-weight, high-flexibility exoskeleton that allows for dexterity and compliance with the user's will.

There has never been a Exoskeleton Guide like this. It contains 94 answers, much more than you can imagine; comprehensive answers and extensive details and references, with insights that have never before been offered in print. Get the information you need--fast! This all-embracing guide offers a thorough view of key knowledge and detailed insight. This Guide introduces what you want to know about Exoskeleton. A quick look inside of some of the subjects covered: Crab - Evolution, District 9 - Visual effects, Powered exoskeleton - Power control and modulation, Game controller - Variants, Powered exoskeleton - Power supply, Military technology - Military robots, Insect - Flight, Powered exoskeleton - History, KITT - KARR redesign, Insect - Incomplete metamorphosis, Crustacean, Human enhancement - Existing technologies, Coral, Areas of robotics -, Ecdysis, Skin, Powered exoskeleton - Applications, Powered exoskeleton - Detection of unsafe/invalid motions, Cyborgs - Overview, Exoskeleton - Diversity, Coral - Exoskeleton, Cyborgs in fiction - Examples in history, Spiracle - Arthropods, Powered exoskeleton - Adaptation to user size variations, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - Active projects, Insect - External, Chitin, Spider - Locomotion, Powered exoskeleton - In fiction, Polysaccharide - Chitin, Lobsters - Description, Etruscan shrew - Hunting and feeding, Cyborg - Overview, Arthropod - Description, Horn (anatomy) - Other hornlike growths, Arachnid - Anatomy, Crustacean - Structure, Mollusc shell, Arthropod exoskeleton - Ecdysis, Sponge - Overview, Powered exoskeleton - Pinching and joint fouling, Sponge - Skeleton, Small shelly fauna - Evolution of skeletons and biomineralization, Fungus - Characteristics, Immune system - Surface barriers, and much more...