Biomechanical Simulation of Passive Back Support Exoskeletons

Industrial exoskeletons have been getting growing attention as an ergonomic solution to reduce musculoskeletal load associated with various tasks such as lifting and overhead work. Among various design factors, exoskeletons’ supportive torque is a vital component and therefore should be adequately determined to ensure sufficient support while minimizing potential side effects such as contract stress at the human-exoskeleton interfaces. Exoskeleton-integrated musculoskeletal modeling offers a systematic framework for human-in-the-loop design of exoskeletons, enabling the simulation-based evaluation of various support levels to minimize the cost and time-consuming tests with human subjects. This approach also helps prevent mismatches such as over- or under-sized actuators, allowing for more effective application in real-world scenarios. In this webcast, we will briefly discuss how exoskeletons can be integrated into digital human models and review different interaction modeling approaches. Then, we will demonstrate how the AnyBody Modeling System can be used to systematically evaluate the effects of various exoskeleton support levels on biomechanical load and contact stress in an occupational task. (00:00) Introduction to the AnyBody Modeling System (03:59) Research motivation and introduction by Associate Prof. Jay Kim (13:55) Presentation by PhD Candidate Mina Salehi (15:01) Combined human-exoskeleton modeling - Kinematic Analysis (18:24) Combined human-exoskeleton modeling - Kinetic Analysis (22:49) Methods: Human-Exoskeleton interface modeling (24:43) Methods: Calculating assistive torque of the exoskeleton (25:42) Outcome measures (26:07) Results: Muscle Activity (26:55) Results: L5/S1 Reaction Forces (28:09) Results: Interaction forces on the chest and thigh (29:54) Take-home messages (31:13) AnyBody online resources (32:30) Q&A session