Multi-objective Design Optimization and Control Strategy for Digital Hydraulically Driven Knee Exoskeleton

This article presents a multi-objective design optimization strategy to deter-mine an optimal design of digital hydraulically driven knee exoskeleton. To satisfy the overall goal of compact and lightweight design, four key design objectives are defined. Via genetic algorithm based multi-objective optimization technique, the pareto-optimal set of designs is determined and the trade-offs between the design objectives are analysed. Via decisions based on component availability and user-comfort, the dimensionality of the pareto-front is reduced to two and an exoskeleton design is selected that offers a good compromise between the design objectives.For the actuation of the exoskeleton, an energy efficient control strategy is proposed which consists of using passive control during the stance phase and simplified model predictive control during the swing phase. The operation of the chosen knee exoskeleton design and the control strategy is investigated via numerical simulations. The results indicate that the exoskeleton successfully tracks the desired knee motion and delivers the required knee torque.