VOL. 10, NO.

19, OCTOBER 2015 ISSN 1819-6608

ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
©2006-2015 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). All rights reserved.

www.arpnjournals.com

TORQUE ANALYSIS OF THE LOWER LIMB EXOSKELETON

ROBOT DESIGN
N. Latif A. Shaari1. Ida S. Md Isa2 and Tan Chee Jun3
1,3Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia
2Faculty of Electronic Engineering and Computer Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia
E-Mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT
Exoskeleton is a type of wearable robots that can augment the performance of an able-bodied user. There are
many studies that use hydraulic actuator to actuate the lower limb exoskeleton which possesses several drawbacks like
dirty, noisy and high power consumption. Therefore, electrical actuators that are clean, silent and less power consuming are
used in designing the lower limb exoskeleton in this project. Hence, this project is aimed to derive the mathematical model
and joint torque equations, to design a lower limb exoskeleton using electrical motors from the market and to validate the
design of the lower limb exoskeleton by simulation. This project shows the progress of selecting the electrical actuators for
exoskeleton in accordance to the calculations and verifying the selections via simulations. In other words, this project
serves as a guide to select appropriate electrical actuators for an exoskeleton robot.

Keywords: lower limb, exoskeleton, wearable robot.

INTRODUCTION Chu, 2006), (Herr, 2009) There is another design that is

Exoskeleton is a device that can augments the intended for torque and work augmentation. This sort of
performance of an able-bodied wearer. It is used to design augments joints torque and power of the user
augment the strength or the endurance of the wearer allowing them to lift heavy thing and perform daily
through various means. There are many types of activities with ease. Besides that, it also helps in reduce
exoskeleton which are mainly grouped into either full joint pain for user. However, this design normally does not
body exoskeleton or partial exoskeleton which further transfer substantial load to the ground unlike the previous
divides into upper limb exoskeleton and lower limb design mentioned. An example of this type of exoskeleton
exoskeleton. As the name suggested, full body exoskeleton is the Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) developed by
improves the performance of both the upper and lower Cyberdyne (Bock, Linner and Ikeda, 2012), (Herr, 2009).
limb of the user be it the strength or the endurance. For Besides that, there is another designed that aimed to
upper limb exoskeleton, the exoskeleton will augment the increase the users muscle endurance. This type of
performance of user from the waist up including torso and exoskeleton utilizes the fact that only a small portion of
arms. Whereas, the lower limb exoskeleton will improve our muscles are fatigue during an exhaustive exercise. It
the performance of the user’s legs. (Kazerooni, 2005)This redistributes the work load over a greater number of
research focused on the lower limb exoskeleton muscles, particularly the muscles that are not easily
The lower limb exoskeleton is further divided fatigue. This design simply uses spring that will stretch by
into two types which are series and parallel. Series lower unused muscles to store energy and then release it to assist
limb exoskeletons are the ones that are applied in series the muscles that are easily fatigue. Hence, the muscle
with human legs to store energy and release far greater endurance of the wearer can be increased using this
strain energy. (Herr, 2009) This type of exoskeleton works design. (Herr, 2009)
by storing energy when the user’s feet are striking the Since there are so many designs for exoskeleton,
ground and release it by pushing the user to lift. By doing a design suitable for an intended application should be
this, it reduces the effort for the user to move and hence determined and suitable components of the exoskeleton
reduce the metabolic cost. The most common example of should be selected to make sure that the exoskeleton
this type of exoskeleton is the elastic shoes. designed works as it should.
The other type of exoskeleton is known as
parallel exoskeleton which is applied in parallel with Biomechanics of human
human lower limb to change the limitations of the human Human’s movement and motion are very
body. For this type of exoskeleton there are various complex due to the vast number of degree of freedom of
designs that serve different purposes for the wearer. One our body. However, most of our daily life motions that
of which is for load transfer. This design transfer load as require large torque and power are performed in the
well as the body weight directly to the ground which will sagittal plane. (Walsh, 2006) These motions include
reduce the metabolic cost of the wearer for loads carrying walking, running, standing up and more. This is the reason
and ultimately enhance the endurance of the wearer. One why many of the previous studies focused on actuation of
of the examples for this type of exoskeleton is Berkeley joint in sagittal plane particularly in flexion/extension of
Lower Limb Exoskeleton (BLEEX) developed by hip, knee and ankle as seen in (Zoss, Kazerooni and Chu,
University of California, Berkeley. (Zoss, Kazerooni and 2006).

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There are many degrees of freedom for human’s high torque and small size is not very easy to find. That is
lower limb. However, it would be a waste to actuate all of why Servomotors are normally coupled with suitable
them as some of them do not require high power. reducers to provide high torque and fast response motion
According to (Zoss, Kazerooni and Chu, 2006), the in a small package.
flexion/extension of hip, knee and ankle requires the most There are studies that use linear actuator as their
power which needs to be actuated. In conclusion, actuation system in exoskeleton design. (Stopforth, 2012),
actuations should be provided to the flexion/extension of (Marcheschi, 2011) Linear actuator consists of an electric
hip, knee and ankle whereas the other un-actuated joints motor and a leadscrew which translate the rotational
are left to rotate freely to minimize the hindrance of the motion provided by the motor into linear motion. It is
user’s movements. chosen by studies in (Stopforth, 2012), (Marcheschi, 2011)
because of its high load capacity which means it can
Actuators provide high force output. Apart from that, reasonable
Actuators are the device that provide motion for price is also one of the advantages of the linear actuators.
the exoskeleton and hence support the wearer’s limb However, there are some drawbacks of this type of
motion. It takes the command from the controller and actuator. One of it being that it is normally large and bulky
provides motion according to the requirement at a certain because it needs to house the components like leadscrew,
instant. Electrical Actuator is one of the most popular motor, gearing, bearing and other components. Besides
choices due to its clean and silent operation as well as that, the moving parts of the actuator are prone to wear
lower power consumption than others. (Hollerbach, and tear due to frictions. The linear actuator also has a
Hunter and Ballantyne, 1992) Some of the electrical limited range of motion as the leadscrew can only extend
actuators used by previous studies include DC for a limited length only.
Servomotor, Linear Actuator and Series Elastic Actuator.
DC Servomotor is a popular choice in providing actuation
for robots as well as exoskeletons. (Onen, 2014) DC
Servomotor can be easily controlled by controller which
sends signal to it. Unlike any other actuator, the direction,
speed and even position of the motor can be easily
controlled by electronics. Moreover, DC servomotor
provides precise positioning because of its built-in position
feedback which gives an accurate control of its motion and
position. . It provides clean and silent actuation of
exoskeleton compared to the other which makes it suitable
for application in any environment, indoor or outdoor.
(Onen, 2014) This is why it is normally positioned on the
exoskeleton’s joint that need to be actuated as seen in
(Merodio, Cestari, Arevalo and Garcia, 2012), (Zhang,
Xiang, Lin and Zhou, 2013), (Onen, 2014), (Sankai,
2003). However, there are some studies that position it Figure-1. Linear series elastic actuator (Walsh, 2006).
away from the joint and transmit power through a drive
system like chain or cable. (Banchadit, 2012),(Marcheschi,
2011) Despite the compact size, a DC Servomotor with

Table-1. The comparison between actuators.

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Table-2. The comparison between drive.

The comparisons between the actuators are exoskeleton. This is because lighter frame means lesser
summarized in Table-1. As a conclusion, DC servomotor power is required to actuate the body part. However, the
is chosen for this project due to the facts that it has wider frame of the exoskeleton should be hard enough to
range of motion, more compact size and less prone to wear withstand the torque generated by the actuator and also the
and tear compact to the other alternatives. body weight of the wearer. Studies done by (Merodio,
Cestari, Arevalo and Garcia, 2012), (Onen, 2014), (Walsh,
Drive system 2006), (Sankai, 2003), aluminium alloys are chosen as
Harmonic drive system is a power transmission their main material for the frame of the exoskeleton.
system that is a very popular choice in electrical actuated Although different types of aluminium alloys are used in
exoskeleton as seen in (Zoss and Kazerooni, 2006), different studies, the main reason aluminium alloys is one
(Merodio, Cestari, Arevalo and Garcia, 2012), (Zhang, of the most popular material is because of its lightness and
Xiang, Lin and Zhou, 2013), (Sankai, 2003). It decreases strength. (Onen, 2014), (Sankai, 2003) In (Kazerooni,
the output speed as well as increases the output torque for 2006), combination of Duralumin or aluminium 2024 and
an actuation system and hence reduces the size of the stainless steel is used to construct the structure of the
motor required. The reason why it is chosen by many of exoskeleton. The duralumin is used to from the frame and
the previous studies is due to its advantages of no the stainless steel is used to form the joints. On the other
backlash, excellent positional accuracy and high hand, combination of aluminium alloy 7075 and
torque/reduction ratio. (Zoss and Kazerooni, 2006), polyamide 6 are used to form the structure of the
(Ramsdale, 2014). Besides, it is compact in size. This is exoskeleton in (Onen, 2014) .The aluminium alloy 7075
due to the special design that makes it input concentric are used in high load structure whereas the polyamide 6
with its output. However, all that advantages come with a are applied in low load structure to make the exoskeleton
great price; the cost of a harmonic drive unit is often very as light as possible. In (Walsh, 2006), combination of
high. In (Zhang, Xiang, Lin and Zhou, 2013), chain drive carbon fiber and prosthetic aluminium tubing which uses
is chosen to be the drive system for the exoskeleton. Chain aluminium 7068 is used to construct the exoskeleton. The
drive is a long distance power transmission system that prosthetic aluminium tubing is chosen because it is
utilizes the chain to transmit power. It possesses the designed for human use and very light. Carbon fibers are
advantages of simple to implement and flexible length of only used in a small portion because it is very expensive
power transmission. However, chain drive system can take despite the fact that it is lighter than aluminium alloys.
up a lot of space for the chain means that it is not suitable
for exoskeleton application. In (Marcheschi, 2011), cable- Table-3. Comparison of properties between aluminium
pulley drive is used to transmit power for actuation. alloys.
Depending on designs, the cable-pulley drive can have
very limited range of motion and takes up a lot of space.
However, this sort of drive system does not have problems
like backlash and friction unlike chain drive system. Table
2show the comparison between the drive systems. Each
solution has its own trade off, an appropriate trade-off
should be considered to select the most suitable solution
for an application. In this case, harmonic drive unit is the
most suitable drive system simply because of the facts that
it has the most compact size, possess high accuracy and
also high reduction capability.

Material
In designing an exoskeleton, a material that is
light and strong is required to form the frame of the

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Table-3 shows the comparison between Table-4. Denavit-Hartenberg parameters of the lower limb
aluminium alloys used by previous studies. As seen from exoskeleton.
Table-4, Aluminium 7068 has significant higher yield
strength than other aluminium alloys. The yield strength of
the material is very important as the frame of exoskeleton
needs to be strong enough to actuate limbs without
breaking. Although aluminium 7068 has the highest
density, the difference is not as significant as the yield
strength. Apart from that, aluminium 7068 and 7075 has
lower machinability from aluminium 2024 which is
expected from a harder alloy.
Aluminium 7068 would be the right material to
be used to form the frame of exoskeleton due to its
strength despite the fact that it has the highest density and The position of the foot relative to the base in the
lower machinability among the others. However, due to its x-axis and y-axis can be obtained from the position vector
low availability, the aluminium 7075 with higher in the transformation matrix. That means an equation of x
availability, lower yield strength as well as density is and y in terms of hip angle and knee angle can be
chosen to be the material to form the exoskeleton in this obtained.
project.

Kinematic analysis
In order to control the lower limb exoskeleton,
the relationship between joint angles and position of the
foot must be identified. The exoskeleton leg is considered
to be a Rotational-Rotational-Rotational (RRR) series After that, inverse kinematics are applied to find
planar robot due to its movement on Sagittal plane only. the joint angle if given the position of the foot. For inverse
Forward kinematics is applied to find the position of the kinematics of the leg, the position of the end effector
foot if values for the joint angles are given. First, reference relative to the base serves as the input and the rotation of
frame are assigned to the hip, knee and ankle joint as the hip and knee serve as the output.
shown in Figure-2.

Joint torque equation

The torque required at each joint can be
determined by using free body diagrams of different joints.
Figure-3, Figure-4, Figure-5 shows the forces acting on
hip, knee and ankle joint respectively.

Figure-2. Exoskeleton leg with reference frames assigned.

By using the reference frame assigned, the

Denavit-Hartenberg(DH) table that represents the
translational and rotational relationship between links are
constructed as shown in Table-4.

Figure-3. Forces acting at hip joint.

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To calculate the torque required for each joint,

the mass of the actuators are and the links mass are
estimated. The user is targeted to be weighing 100 kg and
Figure-4. Forces acting at knee joint. 1.85 m tall. The body segment parameters of the user can
be obtained from (Drillis, Contini and Bluestein, 1964)
and (Khan, 2012).

From the calculation, the torque required at hip

joint is 47.56 Nm; the torque required at knee joint is
21.68 Nm whereas the torque required at the ankle is 2.10
Figure-5. Forces acting at ankle joint. Nm. Therefore, the motor and drive system should
produce more torque than the calculated torque values to
The torque required to generate by the actuator at lift both the user’s limb and the exoskeleton.
each joint can be determined as shown below.
Actuator selection
From the calculations, the torque required at hip,
knee and ankle joint are 47.56Nm, 21.68Nm and 2.10Nm
respectively to lift the user’s limb for walking. Hence, the
motor selected should produce more than the calculated
value to be able to lift the exoskeleton and the user’s
limbs. In this project, brushless DC motors are selected for
their efficiency and longer lifetime compared to other type
of motors. Since the exoskeleton requires more torque then
speed, gearboxes or reducers are selected to couple with
each motor to trade speed for more torque. This will
decrease the output speed and increase the output torque
significantly.
The brushless DC motors selected for the hip,
knee and ankle joint are the flat series from Maxon which
are EC90 Flat, EC60 Flat and EC45 Flat respectively.
They produce a maximum continuous torque of 560mNm,
289mNm and 128mNm respectively. These motors are
selected because they are one of the slimmest and lightest
designs available on the market which makes them
suitably to be used to actuate the exoskeleton. Besides
that, these motors can be overdriven to produce more than
3 times the maximum continuous torque for a short
amount of period should the circumstances required.
Moreover, strain wave gearboxes with gear ratio of 100:1
are selected to couple with each motor to amplify the
output toque 100 times from the motor’s output shaft.
These sorts of reducers are manufactured by Harmonic
Drive and the CSD series that are selected are one of the
flattest and lightest reducer available. This makes the
selected motor and gearbox combination suitable to be

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applied on wearable or exoskeleton robot. The motor and limitations to its overhung load. Besides that, it will help
reducer combined to produced 56Nm, 28.9Nm and to shift the load applied by the user’s limb to the pivot
12.8Nm at hip, knee and ankle joint respectively. The joint and thus increasing the lifetime of the actuator unit.
specification of the motors and reducers are summarized Moreover, the pivot joint also limits the rotation of the
in Table-5 and 6. joint mechanically to avoid any accident caused by the
malfunction of the actuators. This is very important
Table-5. Specifications of selected motor. precaution to make the exoskeleton safe for the users.
There are special mounts designed to mount the
actuators onto the exoskeleton to provide actuation to the
joints. The mount not only served as couples the link and
the actuator but also serve as the coupling for the motor
and reducer. The mounts are also made up of Aluminium-
7075 which helps in saving weight. Apart from that, there
are adjustable braces to strap onto the user’s limb so that
the limb moves with the exoskeleton. The braces are to be
covered with Velcro straps for easy and fast fastening
action. The exoskeleton’s parts including link and mounts
are design using standard thickness of the Aluminium
Table-6. Specifications of selected reducers.
sheet or bar on the market to make it easier and cheaper to
be fabricated.

Exoskeleton design
The exoskeleton robot is designed using
Computer-Aided Design software named SolidWorks.
After selecting the actuators, the exoskeleton’s dimension
parameters are set according to the objective of this Figure-6. Pivot joint and actuator mount design on the
project. The exoskeleton is design according to the exoskeleton.
anthropomorphic parameters of the human body to make
sure that the joints of exoskeleton are concentric with the
user’s joints. This will help in improving its compliance to
the human body. The anthropomorphic parameters of the
limbs are estimated using ratio obtained from (Drillis,
Contini and Bluestein, 1964) and (Khan, 2012) to
determine the links length of the exoskeleton. Then, an
accurate render and design of the parts and links are
carried out using SolidWorks with reference to the
parameters set.
The exoskeleton is designed to carry an able-
bodied and healthy user with a maximum weight of 100kg
and height of 185cm. The exoskeleton that includes all the
actuator units and links weighs only 6.44kg. It is mainly
made up of Aluminium-7075 which is light and strong at
the same time. It is considered as a bipedal wearable robot
with 3 degree of freedom each limb which allows the hip, Figure-7. The assembly drawing of the designed
knee and ankle joint to be rotated and powered in the exoskeleton.
Sagittal plane as shown in Figure-7. It consists of thigh
link, shank link and foot pad for each limb of the Motion analysis
exoskeleton like the human body. All the links are This test was conducted to test the exoskeleton’s
connected together by a pivot joint instead of using the ability to lift the user’s limb. It was conducted using the
actuator unit as the joint as shown in Figure 6. This design SolidWorks Motion Analysis function. First, the designed
will help in avoiding direct load applied to the motors and exoskeleton has a weight accurate humanoid dummy strap
reducers which will damage the actuator unit as there are onto it to simulate the weight of the user. Then, trajectory

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planning is required to for the exoskeleton model to obtained from simulation is 21.32 Nm. This means that the
simulate the legs motion in a walking gait. After planning hip joint actuator unit selected is able to support the user to
the trajectory, rotary actuators are inserted to each joint of take a step as the torque required does not exceed the
the exoskeleton model in SolidWorks Motion Analysis. maximum continuous torque of actuator unit which is 56
Then, the data points of joint angles calculated are inserted Nm.
into each individual rotary actuator with respect to time as
shown in Figure-8. These data points will command the
rotary actuator to rotate to desired angles calculated at a
specific time and hence perform walking motion. After
inserting the data points, the motion simulation of the
exoskeleton model is conducted and desired data like
torque pattern are recorded. Two tests were conducted to
obtain the torque required to perform walking motion.
In the first test, the exoskeleton model was
required to perform leg swing movement according to the
trajectory planning and obtain the torque value of taking
one step. The torque pattern for each joint required to
perform the leg swing motion are recorded and observed
to verify the ability of the actuator selected to produce
enough torque to support the user to take one step. For the Figure-9. Graph of torque against time for hip joint.
second test, the exoskeleton model was required to
perform two complete cycles of walking motion to obtain Figure-10 shows the torque pattern of knee joint
the torque values for a complete walking cycle. The torque obtained from the simulation. The knee joint torque data
pattern for each joint are recorded and analysed to further obtained from simulation shows a gradual increase from
verify the exoskeleton’s ability to support the user to walk. 1.16 Nm at 0s to 10.64 Nm at 0.4s and then gradually
decrease to -3.37 Nm. The maximum value for torque
RESULT AND DISCUSSION values is 9.39Nm. The maximum value for the simulation
The torque pattern of each joint recorded are does not exceed the maximum continuous torque of the
discussed and analysed in this section to examine the knee joint actuator unit selected which is 28.9 Nm. This
selected actuator units’ ability to actuate the user by using means that the knee joint actuator units selected are able to
SolidWorks Software. support the user to take a step forward.

Figure-10. Graph of torque against time for knee joint.

Figure-8. Data points inserted to each joints. Figure-11 shows the torque pattern of ankle joint
obtained from the simulation. The ankle joint torque value
Leg swing motion obtained from simulation starts at -1.18Nm initially and
This section discusses the toque pattern of each then decrease to -1.21Nm at 0.10s. After that, the value
joint obtained from the simulation for the exoskeleton to increased gradually from -1.21Nm to -0.51Nm at 1.00s.
perform the one leg swing motion. Figure-9 shows the The maximum torque value recorded is 1.21Nm. This
torque pattern of hip joint obtained from the simulation. indicates that the ankle joint actuator units selected are
The torque value recorded for hip joint starts at 12.87 Nm able to handle and support the user to take a step forward.
initially and then gradually decreased to -21.32 Nm at 0.88 This is because the value does not exceed the maximum
s and then increased to -20.10 Nm at 1.0 s. The maximum continuous torque of the ankle joint actuator unit selected
value of torque in terms of magnitude for hip joint which is 12.80Nm.

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Figure-12. Torque pattern of left hip joint.

Figure-11. Graph of torque against time for ankle joint.

In summary, the maximum torque required at all

3 joints to swing the user’s leg does not exceed the
maximum continuous torque that can be produced by their
respective actuator units. This means that all the actuator
units selected are able to swing the leg of the user without
any problem.

Two complete cycle walking motion

This section discusses the toque pattern of each
joint obtained from the simulation for the exoskeleton to
perform two complete cycle walking motion. Different
phases in walking are indicated with different coloured
region. The region coloured in red represents the stance
phase where the foot is in contact with the ground whereas Figure-13. Torque pattern of right hip joint.
the blue coloured region indicates the swing phase where
the foot is off the ground. The red lines indicate the range Figure-14 and 15 shows the torque pattern for the
of maximum continuous torque that can be produce by left and right knee joint respectively. For both of the knee
each respective actuator unit. joint, the magnitude of torque values is within the range of
Figure-12 and 13 shows the torque pattern for the 28.9Nm most of the time. However, the torque value also
left and right hip joint respectively. For both of the hip shows some spikes during the transitions between phases
joint, the magnitude of torque values is within the range of just like the hip joints. These spikes are caused by the
56Nmmost of the time, which is the maximum continuous rapid deceleration of the leg to a brief halt during the
torque of the hip actuator unit. However, the torque value transition between phases. For a brief moment, the spikes
shows some spikes during the transitions between phases. can reach a maximum value of 42Nm which is about 1.5
These spikes are caused by the rapid deceleration of the times the maximum continuous torque of the knee actuator
leg to a brief halt during the transition between phases. unit can produce. Due to the fact that the knee actuator
This is because the joint requires a large amount of torque unit can only supply a maximum continuous torque of
to decelerate and then accelerate in the opposite direction 28.9Nm, the actuator unit will need to be overdriven to
during the transition which explains the surge and recover emulate the walking motion.
of the torque value. From the Figure-13 and Figure-14,
there are multiple spikes shown at 0.67s and 2.00s are
which can be caused by a jerk during the deceleration of
the joint. This indicates that the transitions were rough
which could be caused by the planned trajectory. On the
other hand, the singular spike shown at 1.34s indicates a
smooth deceleration and acceleration during transition. For
a brief moment, the spikes can reach a maximum value of
130Nm which is about two times the maximum
continuous torque of the hip actuator unit can produce.
Hence, the actuator unit will need to be overdriven in
order to mimic the torque pattern of walking motion.

Figure-14. Torque pattern of left knee joint.

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Figure-17. Torque pattern of right ankle joint.

Figure-15. Torque pattern of right knee joint.
CONCLUSIONS
Figure-16 and 17 shows the torque pattern for the
From the result, the electric powered actuator unit
left and right ankle joint respectively. For both of the ankle
selected for the exoskeleton shows that they are able to
joint, the magnitude of torque values is within the range of
swing the user’s limb and actuate the user to walk via
12.8 Nm all the time even with the torque value spikes
overdrive of the actuator unit. In conclusion, the DC motor
during the transitions between phases. These spikes are
actuator unit selected from the market can produce enough
caused by the rapid deceleration of the leg to a brief halt
torque to actuate the user that weighs a maximum of
during the transition between phases. For a brief moment,
100kg to walk. For the future work, researchers should
the spikes can reach a maximum value of 4Nm but it does
focus on the control of the actuator unit and the data
not exceed the maximum continuous torque that can be
acquisition of the sensor to make sure that the exoskeleton
produced by the ankle actuator unit. This means that the
designed works as it should.
ankle actuator unit does not need to be overdriven to
mimic the torque pattern of ankle joint during walking.
In summary, the actuator units selected are able ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
to actuate the lower limb of the user to walk. However, the We would like to thank the Univesiti Teknikal
hip and knee actuator units will need to be overdriven Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) and Ministry of Education
during transition period between phases in order to mimic Malaysia (KPM) by supporting a fund for making this
the torque pattern of walking project successful.

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