Actuation Requirements for Assistive Exoskeletons: Exploiting Knowledge of Task Dynamics

When selecting actuators for assistive exoskeletons, designers face contrasting requirements. Overdimensioned actuators have drawbacks that compromise their effectiveness in the target application (e.g. performance, weight, comfort). In some cases, the requirements on the powered actuator can be relaxed exploiting the contribution of an elastic element acting in mechanical parallel. This contribution considers one such case and describes an approach to fit the actuation requirements closely to the task dynamics, thereby mitigating the drawbacks of overdimensioned actuators.