An approach to the design of fully actuated body extenders for material handling

This paper deals with the mechanical and control design of an exoskeletric power extender for the whole human body. A critical issue in the design of such kid of devices is granting a sufficient level of transparency. The authors propose two design conditions based on tracking force threshold and equilibrium considerations that should be complied. This methodology has been applied to the specific design of a body extender for material handling that is currently being developed at the PERCRO (PERceptual RObotics) Lab of Scuola Superiore S. Anna of Pisa, Italy.