ExoskeletonsExpert
Subject-Specific Predictive Musculoskeletal Simulations of Lower-Limb Exoskeleton Assistance: Metabolic and Biomechanical Effects of Joint Assistance Strategies
Preprint. Researchers built subject-specific musculoskeletal walking simulations with idealized hip, knee, and ankle actuators and tested all single- and multi-joint combinations at 25 and 50 Nm. At 50 Nm, three-joint hip–knee–ankle assistance cut predicted metabolic cost by 48.50% on average, while hip–ankle assistance captured most of that benefit at 44.60%, supporting simpler two-actuator designs. The results provide simulation-derived guidance for exoskeleton developers but still need hardware validation.