Design And Simulation Of A Passive Exoskeleton System For Reduced Gravity Simulation In Astronauts Training

A stiffness matrix method is applied to design and analysis the configuration of a passive exoskeleton with the function of passively compensating any proportion of the gravity load acting on it through selecting springs with appropriate stiffness or adjusting the install position of springs.Biomechanical simulation technology based on the inverse dynamic approach is utilized to simulate the muscle forces and muscle activities of upper limbs,as well as the ground reaction forces and joint torques of lower limbs,which were documented in both the simulated reduced gravity environment and the normal one of earth with exoskeleton combined.Pearson correlation coefficient,Spraque & Geers magnitude and phase difference are executed to analysis data from simulations.Additionally,hypothesis tests are conducted for the data distribution from each sample to check whether there exists significant difference between them.High positive correlations exist between all the corresponding data.Both the magnitude and phase difference between corresponding data are acceptable.There exist no significant differences between most of the corresponding data distributions.Hence the reduced gravity simulation function can be verified.Finally,a pro-type system design is presented on the foundation of the configuration design,followed with a simple analyze of possible problems and solutions in the future practical application.