Hydraulically Powered Exo
The UCSF BioRobotics lab is interested in determining the efficacy of robot powered exoskeletons and prosthetics in the application of physical therapy. To study the instruments' effects, patients will be instructed to perform certain tasks while undergoing a magnetoencephalography. This project goes over the design of an exo compatible with such magnetically sensitive equipment. Magnetoencephalography utilizes equipment that is extremely sensitive to magnetic fields in order to read brain signals. Our solution to this problem is developing an exo that transmits power through a hydraulic line. The electronics themselves would be housed far away enough to keep themselvesfrom interfering with the instrumentation's readings. I developed an admittance controller using an Arduino MEGA for a single actuator of the exo. Future work would need to go into designing the housing, building the human interface, and refining the actuators to support the fully scaled exo. Demonstration:
