US 11,806,302 B2Granted

Wearable assist robot apparatus

AssigneePower Assist International Corporation

InventorEiichi Yagi

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Abstract

Upper arms are fixed to drive shafts of a pair of drive sources at or near respective left and right hip joints. The upper arms are coupled to an upper body trunk harness by first passive rotary shafts via third passive rotary shafts, and are mounted to a lower body trunk harness by a mounting device. Lower arms are fixed to drive source bodies, and are coupled to thigh harnesses by second passive rotary shafts via fourth passive rotary shafts. The first and second passive rotary shafts and third and fourth passive rotary shafts are angularly displaceable about axial lines in a lateral direction of the wearer and axial lines in an anteroposterior direction of the wearer, respectively. An acceleration/angular speed sensor fixed to the lower body trunk harness detects an acceleration of the body trunk in a vertical direction by landing of a foot.

Claims15

Dependent claims

A wearable assist robot apparatus, comprising:

a harness device to be worn and retained by a wearer;
an assist drive mechanism provided on the harness device, including at least one drive source configured to be disposed on each of left and right sides of a lower body trunk of the wearer configured to generate drive torque about an axial line in a lateral direction of the wearer, the assist drive mechanism being configured to apply assisting force moments respectively to portions of the wearer between the body trunk and respective left and right thighs by drive torque from the respective drive sources;
a pair of angle sensors configured to detect relative angles between the body trunk and the respective left and right thighs of the wearer about the axial line in the lateral direction;
at least one processor configured to
determine a foot landing state in response to an output from the angle sensors;
and
in response to outputs from the respective angle sensors and a determined foot landing state, apply an assisting force moment in a direction of support to a supporting leg in a landed state by a supporting-leg side drive source of the at least one drive source, and apply a swing-up force moment in a swing-up direction to a free leg not in contact with the land by a free-leg side drive source of the at least one drive source,
wherein after the assisting force moments are maintained at a first predetermined value for a first predetermined time, the assisting force moments are reduced in proportion to respective angles detected by the pair of angle sensors, and
after the swing-up force moment is maintained at a second predetermined value for a second predetermined time, the swing-up force moment is reduced at a predetermined speed.

6 more elements

A wearable assist robot apparatus, comprising:

(a) an upper body trunk harness to be worn and retained on an upper body trunk of a wearer;
(b) a lower body trunk harness to be worn and retained on a lower body trunk of the wearer;
and
(c) thigh harnesses to be worn and retained on thighs of the wearer,
(d) at least one drive source configured to be disposed distally to the lower body trunk on each of left and right sides in a lateral direction of the wearer,
the at least one drive source including a drive shaft configured to rotate about an axial line in the lateral direction at or near a hip joint, and
a drive source body provided on the drive shaft, the drive source body being configured to generate torque about the axial line in the lateral direction,
(e) a pair of upper arms extending in a vertical direction of the wearer, the pair of upper arms being configured to be disposed distally from both left and right sides of the upper body trunk, and attached at lower ends of the respective upper arms to one of the respective drive shaft or the respective drive source body so as to prohibit relative rotation about the axial line in the lateral direction;
(f) first passive rotary shafts configured to couple upper ends of the upper arms and the upper body trunk harness respectively so as to be angularly displaceable about the axial line in the lateral direction;
(g) a pair of lower arms extending in the vertical direction and configured to be disposed distally from both left and right sides from the lower body trunk to the thighs respectively and attached at upper ends of the respective lower arms to the other one of the drive shaft or the drive source body so as to prohibit relative rotation about the axial line in the lateral direction;
(h) second passive rotary shafts configured to couple lower ends of the respective lower arms and the thigh harnesses respectively so as to be angularly displaceable about the axial line in the lateral direction;
and
(i) a mount configured to mount one or more of the upper arms, the drive shaft, the drive source body, and the lower arms to the lower body trunk harness,
wherein a vest is attached to the upper body trunk harness.

11 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 17/382,734Filed 22 Jul 2021 · division
Priority: JP 2016-16026217 Aug 2016
Published: US 2021/0346229 A111 Nov 2021
Granted: 7 Nov 2023
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification20 codes

A61H 3/00
Appliances for aiding patients or disabled persons to walk about
A61H 1/0244
For the lower limbs: hip
B25J 9/0006
Program-controlled manipulators: exoskeletons, i.e. resembling a human figure
B25J 11/00
Manipulators not otherwise provided for

Family

PCT/JP2017/027346Parent of this division · filed 27 Jul 2017
US 2021/0346229 A1Pre-grant publication · published 11 Nov 2021
Application15/738,322Parent of this division
US 11,110,024 B2Parent of this division
US 2018/0325764 A1Published application
US 11,806,302 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.