Exoskeletons could turn us all into Olympic runners

Stanford engineers are studying devices to make running easier. In experiments with exoskeleton emulators, researchers investigated two different modes of running assistance: motor-powered assistance and spring-based assistance.

Wearing a switched off exoskeleton made running 13% harder than without the exoskeleton. When powered by a motor, the exoskeleton reduced the energy cost of running, making it 15% easier than running without the exoskeleton and 25% easier than running with the exoskeleton switched off.

In contrast, the study suggested if the exoskeleton was powered to mimic a spring it was 11% harder than running exoskeleton-free and only 2% easier than the non-powered exoskeleton.

“When people run, their legs behave a lot like a spring, so we were very surprised that spring-like assistance was not effective,” says Steve Collins, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford and senior author of a paper covering the results published in Science Robotics.

Powering your step

The frame of the ankle exoskeleton emulator straps around the user’s shin, attaches to the shoe with a rope looped under the heel, and has a carbon fiber bar inserted into the sole, near the toe. Motors produce the two modes of assistance.

The spring-like mode mimics the influence of a spring running parallel to the calf, storing energy during the beginning of the step and unloading that energy as the toes push off. In powered mode, motors tug a cable that runs through the back of the exoskeleton from the heel to the calf. It pulls upward during toe-off to help extend the ankle at the end of a running step.

“Powered assistance took off a lot of the energy burden of the calf muscles. It was very springy and very bouncy compared to normal running,” says Delaney Miller, a graduate student at Stanford working on and run-testing the exoskeletons.

Eleven experienced runners tested the two assistance types on a treadmill, with and without any assistance mechanisms turned on. Researchers measured runners’ energetic output through a mask tracking how much oxygen they were inhaling and how much carbon dioxide they were exhaling. Tests lasted 6 minutes; researchers based findings on the last 3 minutes of each exercise.

The energy savings observed indicate a runner using a powered exoskeleton could boost speed up to 10%, even higher with additional time for training and optimization.

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, Ghent University, and Nike Inc. are co-authors of this paper. Collins is also a member of Stanford Bio-X. This research was funded by Nike and the National Science Foundation.

Stanford University