Design and Control of Two Under-Actuated Upper Body Exoskeletons for Augmenting Human Capabilities in Lifting

Exoskeletons are getting popular day by day due to their abilities in helping people. Exoskeletons can be used to help people gain motor senses through rehabilitation. It can also help healthy people to augment their abilities. These exoskeletons need to be strong yet light, so that the human body can support the exoskeleton, while the exoskeleton can support the activity that is being performed. This calls for under-actuated systems, which help in avoiding unnecessary mass due to additional actuators, while providing the same movement capabilities. This thesis describes in detail about two such under-actuated upper body exoskeletons which can be used for lifting loads. The design of such exoskeletons and novel control techniques for comfortable usage is discussed in detail.