Hip, knee, and ankle joint forces during exoskeletal-assisted walking: comparison of approaches to simulate human-robot interactions

The overall goal of this study was to develop a computational framework to quantify hip, knee, and ankle joint forces during exoskeletal-assisted walking (EAW) in the ReWalk P6.0, an FDA-approved lower-extremity exoskeleton. The first objective was to quantify hip, knee, and ankle joint forces during unassisted walking and compare the results to existing in vivo and simulation data. The second objective was to compare hip, knee, and ankle joint forces from four different approaches to simulate human-robot interactions during EAW. We recorded the three-dimensional motion of one able-bodied participant during unassisted walking and EAW, with simultaneous measurements of (i) marker trajectories, (ii) ground reaction forces, (iii) electromyography, and (iv) exoskeleton encoder data. We developed a subject-specific virtual simulator in OpenSim to reproduce unassisted walking and EAW. Next, we utilized OpenSim’s extension, OpenSim Moco, to determine the joint reaction forces at the hips, knees, and ankles during unassisted walking and EAW. The computed peak hip, knee, and ankle joint compressive forces during unassisted walking were 3.42-3.82 body weight (BW), 3.10-3.48 BW, and 4.97-5.83 BW, respectively; these joint forces were comparable to prior in vivo and simulation results. The four approaches to simulate human-robot interactions during EAW resulted in peak compressive forces ranging from 2.98-4.66 BW, 2.82-5.83 BW, and 3.39-3.79 BW at the hip, knee, and ankle joints, respectively. This computational framework provides a low-risk and cost-effective technique to quantify the loading of the long bones and assess fracture risk during EAW in patients with severe bone loss in the lower extremities.