Towards Flexible and Lightweight Ankle Exoskeletons via Anterior-Mounted Handed Shearing Auxetics

Recent advancements in flexible materials provide potential mechanisms towards transforming powered ankle exoskeletons from being heavy and rigid towards being lightweight and flexible. Specifically, this work presents a novel ankle exoskeleton that utilizes a pair of handed shearing auxetics coupled with compression springs. This flexible mechanism converts rotation into a linear displacement, effectively changing the stiffness of the spring during the walking gait. By controlling this stiffness properly, the ankle exoskeleton achieves lower muscle activity during toe push-off.