Admit it, you have dreamed of wearing something like Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit. Sadly, that technology is fictional and real world exoskeleton suits are expensive. But a Swiss company called Auxivo wants to make exoskeletons available to educators, students, and hobbyists. To make that happen, they’re releasing their new EduExo Pro wearable robotic exoskeleton kit.
The EduExo Pro is available on Kickstarter to backers in a variety of packages, from a DIY version to a complete, assembled arm. Whichever option you choose, you will end up with a robotic exoskeleton arm that straps onto your own arm to enhance your strength. It has steel load-bearing structural parts and ball bearings on the joints. The shoulder joint has a heavy spring to provide assistance, while the elbow joint utilizes a powerful stepper motor.
An Arduino Uno board controls the stepper motor. It receives data from two sensors: a potentiometer to detect the elbow joint angle and an EMG (electromyography) sensor to monitor bicep muscle activity. The latter can detect when the wearer is flexing their bicep and then push power to the stepper motor. The arm also interacts with software running on a connected computer. For example, the EduExo Pro handbook provides instructions for integrating the arm with a Unity3D virtual reality game.
If you’re interested in trying the EduExo Pro for yourself, the Kickstarter campaign is running until July 29th.
The post EduExo Pro is an Arduino-controlled robotic exoskeleton kit that’s now on Kickstarter appeared first on Arduino Blog.
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