Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40521056›Full record

ArticleIEEE transactions on medical robotics and bionics2025

Biomechanics-Informed Mechatronics Design of Comfort-Centered Portable Hip Exoskeleton: Actuator, Wearable Interface, Controller.

Daniel Rodríguez-Jorge, Sainan Zhang, Jin Sen Huang, Ivan Lopez-Sanchez, Nitin Srinivasan, Qiang Zhang, Xianlian Zhou, Hao Su

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in IEEE transactions on medical robotics and bionics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. PositiveAssist: Energy-Gated Control for Positive Power Assistance of Exoskeleton in Walking, Running, and Stair Climbing.IEEE/ASME transactions on mechatronics : a joint publication of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society and the ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Division · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Compact and Foldable Hip Exoskeleton With High Torque Density Actuator for Walking and Stair-Climbing Assistance in Young and Older Adults.IEEE/ASME transactions on mechatronics : a joint publication of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society and the ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Division · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Daniel Rodríguez-JorgeDepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
Sainan ZhangLab of Biomechatronics and Intelligent Robotics, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University, New York, NY, 11201, USA.
Jin Sen HuangDepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
Ivan Lopez-SanchezLab of Biomechatronics and Intelligent Robotics, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University, New York, NY, 11201, USA.
Nitin SrinivasanLab of Biomechatronics and Intelligent Robotics, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University, New York, NY, 11201, USA.
Qiang ZhangDepartment of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401, USA.
Xianlian ZhouDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA.
Hao SuDepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.

Funding

SCH: Spine-Hip Exoskeletons with Learning-Based Optimal Control for Low Back Pain AlleviationR01EB035404 · NIBIB · NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY RALEIGH · PI Xiaoning Jiang · 2023 to 2026
$1.1M
NIBIB NIH HHS R01 EB035404
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Exoskeletons can improve human mobility, but discomfort remains a significant barrier to their widespread adoption. This paper presents a comfort-centered mechatronics design of portable hip exoskeletons, comprising of three factors: (i) actuation, (ii) wearable interface, (iii) and assistive controller. We introduced an analytical multibody model to predict the human-exoskeleton contact forces during gait. Informed by this model, we designed a wearable interface that significantly improved the three considered objective metrics: (i) undesired contact forces at the wearable interface, (ii) wobbling, and (iii) metabolic reduction, and also the post-test evaluation via a System Usability Scale questionnaire as a subjective metric. Our experiments with two exoskeleton controllers (gait-based and reinforcement learning-based) demonstrated that the design of the wearable physical interface has a greater impact on reducing metabolic rate and minimizing wobbling than the choice of controller. Our actuation design method leads to highly backdrivable, lightweight quasi-direct drive actuators with high torque tracking performance. By leveraging this wearable design, we achieved up to 60% reduction in undesired contact forces, and a 74% reduction in exoskeleton wobbling in the frontal axis compared to a traditional configuration. Additionally, the net metabolic cost reduction was 18% compared to the no exoskeleton condition.

Indexed as

analytical multibody modelbiomechanicship exoskeletonMechatronics designmetabolic cost

Identifiers

PMID40521056
PMCPMC12162089

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.