Abstract:

An exoskeleton robotic system based on the passive gravity compensation technique is proposed to assist the physical simulation of reduced gravity locomotion for the on earth training of astronauts walking on the moon or Mars. This innovative simulation system based on the exoskeleton robotics and the passive gravity compensation technique is composed of a treadmill and a wearable passive exoskeleton mechanism for balancing any amount (from 0% to 100%) of the gravity of human body and its limbs so that a person wearing such a passive exoskeleton will experience a realistic reduced gravity feeling when he/she moves in the treadmill. Because the proposed exoskeleton robot is completely passive, no active joint control torques are required, and it need not to consider the problem of joint control system design and its stability issue. Dynamics simulation results demonstrate that the proposed passive exoskeleton robotic simulator is capable of simulating reduced gravity locomotion for astronaut in different levels of gravity.

Key words: Astronaut training, Exoskeleton robot, Passive gravity balancing, Reduced gravity locomotion