Design of a lightweight exoskeleton for human augmentation : design and testing of motor actuator

Exoskeletons are assistive devices that are designed to assist the wearer in performing a certain task, such as gripping an object or walking. It is often applied in the field of rehabilitation, military or heavy industries. This project emphasizes on the upper limb soft exoskeleton, specifically the actuation of fingers. The soft hand exoskeleton is designed with tendon-driven concept, which is considered lightweight, portable and safe due to its soft nature. This project aims to design and test of motor actuator for the mentioned exoskeleton. Underactuation and antagonistic approach were applied in the design of the motor actuator to simplify the device and actuation of the complex human hand. For this project, the motor actuator is designed to enable portability and to actuate human fingers at speed and force similar to the average healthy finger. This report also describes the stages of the motor actuator from conceptual to implementation. Embedding of microcontroller to motor actuator has also been considered and implemented to allow portable application. Troubleshooting of both hardware and software will also be documented accordingly.Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering