Soft exosuit for assistance with human motion

A wearable robotic system for assisting muscle-driven motion of a lower limb joint of a user, the system comprising:

• at least one inertial sensor adapted to monitor real-time measurements relating to a position of the lower limb joint and to an angular velocity of motion of the lower limb joint of the user;
• and
• at least one processor configured to:
• detect a movement event relating to an angular velocity of the motion of the lower limb joint and based at least in part on the real-time measurements of the motion of the lower limb joint;
• reference a force profile comprising desired forces to be produced corresponding to each position in the lower limb joint motion as the lower limb joint is moved by the motion of the user;
• generate an assistive profile configured to produce the desired forces;
• and
• in response to the detection of the joint movement event relating to the angular velocity of the motion of the lower limb joint, actuate a motor of the wearable robotic system based at least in part on the assistive profile to produce the desired forces to assist with the muscle-driven motion of the lower limb joint of the user.

A wearable soft exosuit for motion assistance to a lower limb joint of a user, comprising:

• a motor configured to generate tensile forces in the soft exosuit;
• first inertial motion sensors configured for positioning on a user's thighs, and to measure the user's thigh motion;
• second inertial motion sensors configured for positioning on the user's torso, and to measure the user's torso motion;
• a force sensor configured to measure the tensile forces generated by the motor;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• monitor in real time the measurements of user's thigh motion and torso motion,
• determine the user's lower limb joint motion, including an angle of the lower limb joint and an angular velocity of the lower limb joint, by relative difference between the user's thigh motion to the user's torso motion,
• reference a force profile to be produced in the wearable soft exosuit and delivered to the user's body to assist the user's lower limb joint motion, the force profile defining a desired force magnitude to be produced at each point in the user's lower limb joint motion,
• actuate the motor to generate tensile forces in soft exosuit assisting the user's lower limb joint motion in response to an initiation trigger comprising a joint movement event based upon at least a measured angular velocity of the lower limb joint, in which:
• the user's lower limb joint has reached a predetermined angular velocity magnitude,
• the user's lower limb joint is rotating in a predetermined direction as indicated by a sign of the measured angular velocity, or
• the user's lower limb joint has reached a predetermined combination of angle and angular velocity of the lower limb joint, and
• adjust the magnitude of the actuation in real-time according to measurements from the force sensor to compensate for a difference between the force profile and the measured tensile forces.