Life expectancy went up drastically in the last century for occidental populations. Sadly, loss of autonomy associated with ageing is a considerable challenge for tomorrow’s society. One aspect speeding up the loss of autonomy is the loss of mobility. Indeed, the loss of physical capacities has direct consequences on autonomy, social life, self-esteem and eventually cognitive faculties.
The main objective of this project is the development of a gait-assisting exoskeleton device, dubbed HRMS-I (Hermes One), specifically designed for the needs of people in loss of autonomy. Research on exoskeletons’ focus being primarily on military or paraplegic solutions, it is paramount to define the requirements of the target population. In order to define those requirements, we carried out an analysis of typical activities of everyday life and the anthropomorphic characteristics of the population are identified. Then follows a selection of best drive package and a preliminary mechanical concept. The electrical architecture is defined followed by battery cell capacity estimation and instrumented sole development using four custom-made load-cells. Finally, we choose a control algorithm best suited for the application, develop a kinematic model and compare its torque estimation with optoelectronic measurements.
| Date | 21 Mar 2019 |
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| Original language | French |
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| Awarding Institution | - École de technologie supérieure
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| Supervisor | Guy Gauthier (Supervisor) & Maarouf Saad (Co-supervisor) |
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Abram, X. A. (Author), Gauthier (Supervisor) &
Saad (Co-supervisor),
21 Mar 2019Student thesis: Master's thesis › Master in Engineering: Engineering