US 2020/0368094 A1Published application

Power assist suit

AssigneeJtekt Corporation

InventorsYoshitaka YOSHIMI, Toshiki Kumeno

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Abstract

A power assist suit includes: a body wearing tool; a left actuator unit and a right actuator unit attached to the body wearing tool and worn on a left and right thighs of the wearer, such that the left actuator unit and the right actuator unit respectively generate assist torques of assisting motions of the left and right thighs; left and right-torque-related amount detectors which detect a left-torque-related amount and a right-torque amount related to left and right wearer torques and left and right assist torques, the left and right wearer torque being respectively input from the left and right thighs to the left actuator unit and the right actuator unit, the left and right assist torque being generated by the left actuator unit and the right actuator unit; and a controller which automatically switches a motion mode based on the left-torque-related amount and the right-torque-related amount.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A power assist suit comprising:

a body wearing tool configured to be worn around at least a waist of a wearer;
a left actuator portion configured to be attached to the body wearing tool and worn on a left thigh of the wearer, such that the left actuator portion generates an assist torque of assisting a motion of the left thigh with respect to the waist of the wearer;
a right actuator portion configured to be attached to the body wearing tool and worn on a right thigh of the wearer, such that the right actuator portion generates an assist torque of assisting a motion of the right thigh with respect to the waist of the wearer;
a left-torque-related amount detector configured to detect a left-torque-related amount, which is a torque related to a left wearer torque and a left assist torque, the left wearer torque being a torque input from the left thigh of the wearer to the left actuator portion, the left assist torque being the assist torque generated by the left actuator portion;
a right-torque-related amount detector configured to detect a right-torque-related amount, which is a torque related to a right wearer torque and a right assist torque, the right wearer torque being a torque input from the right thigh of the wearer to the right actuator portion, the right assist torque being the assist torque generated by the right actuator portion;
and
a controller configured to automatically switch a motion mode based on the left-torque-related amount and the right-torque-related amount.

4 more elements

A power assist suit comprising:

a body wearing tool configured to be worn around at least a waist of a wearer;
a left actuator portion configured to be attached to the body wearing tool and worn on a left thigh of the wearer, such that the left actuator portion generates an assist torque of assisting a motion of the left thigh with respect to the waist of the wearer;
a right actuator portion configured to be attached to the body wearing tool and worn on a right thigh of the wearer, such that the right actuator portion generates an assist torque of assisting a motion of the right thigh with respect to the waist of the wearer;
and
a controller configured to control the left actuator portion and the right actuator portion,
wherein each of the left actuator portion and the right actuator portion includes:
an output link configured to be worn on one of the left thigh and the right thigh of the wearer and to move rotationally around a joint of the one of the left thigh and the right thigh;
an actuator including an output shaft configured to generate the assist torque of assisting a rotational movement around the joint of the one of the left thigh and the right thigh via the output link;
an elastic member configured to accumulate a synthetic torque obtained by synthesizing the wearer torque input from the output link moved rotationally by a force of the wearer and the assist torque input from the output shaft in the one of the left thigh and the right thigh, one end of the elastic member being connected to the output link, the other end of the elastic member being connected to the output shaft of the actuator;
and
a deformation state detector configured to detect a deformation state in which the elastic member is deformed, and
wherein the controller includes:
a synthetic torque acquisition portion configured to acquire the synthetic torque accumulated in the elastic member based on the deformation state of the elastic member, the deformation state being detected with the deformation state detector of each of the left actuator portion and the right actuator portion;
and
a spring failure determination portion configured to determine whether the elastic member of each of the left actuator portion and the right actuator portion is to fail, based on the synthetic torque accumulated in the elastic member acquired via the synthetic torque acquisition portion.

12 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.