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1. Introduction
The concept of an articial exoskeleton is inspired by biology.
Many living creatures possess external skeletons covering their
soft bodies, the classic example are insects. Animal exoskele-
tons are not only introducing the rigidity of the body but make
the safe covering of soft organs, moreover through recongu-
ration of the rigid segments, the reshaping of the body, that
supports the locomotion, is obtained. Interesting example are
the worms covered by segmented shell which can take a ball
like form for rolling down the inclined surfaces (see Fig.1)
The human exoskeletons we are not yet reached such advan-
ced stage however those devices have quite long research history,
and the recent challenges in this eld are impressing. The study
on human exoskeletons started in 19
th
century. The rst exoske-
leton-like devices were invented by Nicholas Yagin [26] (1890).
These devices oered for the wearer the faster running and
higher jumping ability. The era of modern exoskeletons started
in late seventies of 20
th
century together with the progress in
digital control systems and sensing technologies [25].
Exoskeletons are regarded as a wearable robots or a weara-
ble intelligent devices. They can be categorized as a full-body,
upper-body and lower-body supporters. The exoskeletons are
used in rehabilitation, they prevent of motion system injuries,
they increase the power or enhance the human motion abilities.
Moreover, they are used as intelligent prosthesis for amputees,
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Abstract: This paper summarizes the research on exoskeletons focusing on locomotion support
and presenting their general features including the general control approaches. The major fields
of exoskeleton applications are focused, namely the military and medical fields. The results of
our research on muscles activation during human walking are shortly described. The current
developmental trends are outlined in the conclusions part.
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they also allow the locomotion of the persons with dierent
motion impairments.
In this paper we focus on human lower limb exoskeletons.
However, the representative example of advanced full body exo-
skeleton is also mentioned. The walking ability is very crucial
for normal functioning of the human being and is required for
many working activities. The paper is organized as following:
rst the lower limb exoskeletons for military and medical appli-
cations are shortly presented; next the basic features of a human
gait together with outline of our research on muscles activation
signals are given. The paper is ending with conclusions.
Fig. 1. Armadillidiidae, also known as a pill bug, can reshape its
body spherically. Left: pill bug in walking posture [20], photo by
Peter O’Connor aka anemoneprojectors on Foter.com/CC BY-SA;
right: pill bug taking the ball shape [19], image courtesy of membio
at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Rys. 1. Armadillidiidae, znane również jako kulanka, potra zwinąć się
w kulkę. Po lewej: kulanka w postawie podczas chodzenia [20], fot.
Peter O’Connor znany jako anemoneprojectors na Foter.com/CC BY-SA;
po prawej: kulanka przybiera kształt kuli [19], fotograa dzięki uprzejmości
membio na FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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The modern exoskeletons augment the force and strength of
soldiers carrying the loads to supports the longtime marching.
The research on full-body exoskeletons for military applications
started more than fty years ago with the works on HARDI-
17
Pomiary Automatyka Robotyka, ISSN 1427-9126, R. 24, Nr 2/2020, 17–22, DOI: 10.14313/PAR_236/17
