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Applied Bionics and BiomechanicsVol. 6, No. 2, June 2009, 101–102

Editorial

Lower and upper limb exoskeletons

Welcome to our special issue on lower and upper limb ex-oskeletons. Robotic exoskeletons are a species of WearableRobots. The distinctive, specific and singular aspect of ex-oskeletons is that the exoskeleton’s kinematic chain mapsonto the human limb anatomy. There is a one-to-one corre-spondence between human anatomical joints and the robot’sjoints or sets of joints. This kinematic compliance is a keyaspect in achieving ergonomic human–robot interfaces. Inexoskeletons, there is an effective transfer of power and in-formation between the human and the robot. Humans andexoskeletons are in close physical and cognitive interaction.

In this issue you will find some important articles onthis exciting field, addressing both upper and lower limb ex-oskeletons. We believe that this field overlaps significantlywith the intended scope of Applied Bionics and Biome-chanics. This issue covers first upper limb exoskeletons,and then it focuses on lower extremity exoskeletons.

First, a number of articles address the topic of re-habilitation through upper limb exoskeletons. In particu-lar, the objective of article ‘Suitability of Hydraulic DiskBrakes for Passive Actuation of Upper-extremity Rehabili-tation Exoskeleton’ is to determine if hydraulic disk brakesare suitable to actuate an upper-extremity exoskeleton forapplication in rehabilitation settings. Next, the article ‘AForce-feedback Exoskeleton for Upper Limb Rehabilitationin Virtual Reality’ focuses on the design and the clinicalvalidation of an upper-limb force-feedback exoskeleton,the L-EXOS, for robotic-assisted rehabilitation in virtualreality (VR). Following with upper limb exoskeletons in re-habilitation scenarios, the article ‘ARMin III - Arm TherapyExoskeleton with an Ergonomic Shoulder Actuation’ startswith describing a simplified model of the human shoulder;and on the basis of this model, a new ergonomic shoul-der actuation principle that provides motion of the humerushead is proposed, and its implementation in the ARMinIII arm therapy robot is described. The focus lies on themechanics and actuation principle.

In the field of robotic exoskeletons, physical Human–Robot (HR) interaction is an issue which involves bothkinematics and dynamics aspects. In the article ‘IKO: aFive Actuated DoF Upper Limb Exoskeleton Oriented toWorkplace Assistance’ the aim is to find the best compro-mise between maximum reachable workspace and mini-mum moving mass, which are the key factors for obtaining

ergonomic, wearable exoskeletons. Likewise, the influenceof attachment pressure and kinematic compatibility on thephysical interaction is thoroughly addressed in the article‘Influence of Attachment Pressure and Kinematic Configu-ration on pHRI With Wearable Robots’. Dynamics aspectsof the physical HR interactions are addressed in the article‘Isotropy of an Upper Limb Exoskeleton and the Kinematicsand Dynamics of the Human Arm’.

An important aspect in the design of exoskeletons isbioinspiration. Bioinspiration is a source of information forthe design of all system’s components. In particular, the arti-cle ‘Bio-inspired Control of an Arm Exoskeleton Joint withActive-compliant Actuation System’ presents the methodol-ogy followed on the design of a multi-contact point hapticinterface that uses a bioinspired control approach and anovel actuation system. The combination of these compo-nents aims at creating a system that increases the operabilityof the target, and, simultaneously, it enables an intuitive andsafe tele-operation of any complex robotic system of anygiven morphology.

Bioinspiration is chiefly based on modelling hu-man structures and control. In this regard, the article‘Exoskeleton-Based Robotic Platform Applied in Biome-chanical Modelling of the Human Upper Limb’, first, itdescribes the design, development and validation of an ex-perimental platform designed to modify or perturb the me-chanics of human movement, and simultaneously acquire,process, display and quantify bioelectric and biomechanicalsignals; and then it characterises the dynamics of the elbowjoint during postural control. In a similar way, a system forfinger stiffness measurements is presented in article ‘De-sign of a 2-Finger Hand Exoskeleton for Finger StiffnessMeasurements’.

Finally, two lower limb exoskeletons are fully describedin this special issue. First, in the article ‘Design and Con-trol of a Lower Limb Exoskeleton for Robot-assisted GaitTraining’ the development of a gait rehabilitation exoskele-ton with a knee joint powered by pleated pneumatic arti-ficial muscles is introduced. It is intended as a platformfor the evaluation of design and control concepts in viewof improved physical human–robot interaction. Next, thearticle ‘Analysis of the Human Interaction in the Designof a Wearable Lower-Limb Exoskeleton’ presents a methodto analyse the interaction between the human user and a

ISSN: 1176-2322 print / 1754-2103 onlineCopyright C© 2009 Taylor & FrancisDOI: 10.1080/11762320903105507http://www.informaworld.com

102 Editorial

unilateral, wearable lower-limb exoskeleton. The lower-limb exoskeleton function was to compensate for muscleweakness around the knee joint. It is shown that the cogni-tive interaction is bidirectional; on the one hand, the robotgathered information from the sensors in order to detect hu-man actions, such as the gait phases, but the subjects alsomodified their gait patterns to obtain the desired responsesfrom the exoskeleton.

We would like to mention that Applied Bionics andBiomechanics will be publishing in the near future otherspecial issues on: Humanoid Robots; Biologically InspiredRobots and Mechanisms; Robot Assisted Surgery; and onHuman–Robot Interface/Interaction. Those special issueswill again contain significant contributions on the fields.

Applied Bionics and Biomechanics warmly welcomespast, present and new authors to the regular and specialissues of the journal that it is truly international in scopewith published manuscripts from all over the world. Wehope that the regular issues, this special issue on lower and

upper limb exoskeletons, and the upcoming special issues,will continue to be of great interest, use and benefit to you.

Guest EditorProfessor Jose L. PonsBioengineering Group

Instituto de Automatica Industrial, CSICMadrid, Spain

Guest Co-EditorsProfessor Luis J. Barrios

Bioengineering GroupInstituto de Automatica Industrial, CSIC

Madrid, Spain

Professor Jose M. AzorınVirtual Reality and Robotics Lab

Universidad Miguel Hernandez de ElcheElche, Alicante, Spain

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