EksoVest
The EksoVest is a shoulder exoskeleton designed to help users perform overhead tasks. The Vest provides the user up to 15 pounds of lift under the upper arm and is proven to reduce the amount of strain on the user’s shoulder muscles. My main areas of focus were on the back pad and hip belt, though I did work on the shoulder actuator as well.
The vest uses a combination of high powered gas springs and a cam to provide shoulder torque. Since the spring properties are fixed, I designed a cam to provide the correct amount of torque to the user’s shoulder at different points through their range of motion. The cam ended up being machined out of hardened steel.
The early Vest prototypes had a back pad that created an uncomfortable “hot zone” on the user. Inspired by modern backpacking packs, I replaced the pad with mesh suspended across a carbon fiber structure. With the new suspension mesh, the user’s back can “breathe” and heat is no longer a cause of discomfort.
After designing the mesh back pad, I was tasked with redesigning the hip belt, which had heat issues in the lower back area along with a tendency to slide downwards over time.
I designed a hip belt system with similar principles to the mesh back pad. My first prototypes were made from heat-formable carbon fiber, sheets of plastic, and nylon fabric. After multiple iterations, I settled on an architecture with a removable waist belt made from ballistic nylon and 3D spacer mesh that stretches across a flexible carbon fiber structure. The result is a hip belt that is much cooler and locks into the lumbar area, preventing the Vest from sliding down.
My final step in the design process was spending a week at our soft goods vendor to finalize fabric and stitching details.