Design of a Compact Energy Storage with Rotary Series Elastic Actuator for Lumbar Support Exoskeleton

Lumbar support exoskeletons with active and passive actuators are currently the cutting-edge technology for preventing back injuries in workers while lifting heavy objects. However, many challenges still exist both types of exoskeletons, including rigid actuators, risks human–robot interaction, high battery consumption, bulky design, limited assistance. In this paper, design a compact, lightweight energy storage device combined rotary series elastic actuator (ES-RSEA) is proposed use lumbar exoskeleton to increase level assistance exploit human bioenergy during two stages task. The takes responsibility store release mechanical RSEA provides excellent compliance prevents injury from body’s undesired movement. experimental tests on spiral spring show linear characteristics (above 99%) an actual stiffness 9.96 Nm/rad. results demonstrate that ES-RSEA can provide maximum torque ascent phase 66.6 Nm generating nearly 21 descent without turning DC motor. Ultimately, maximize energy, biomechanics tasks, reduce burden effort perform tasks.