A decrease in mobility, related to illness, trauma or ageing, negatively affects the quality of life of the rapidly growing elderly population. A promising solution to maintain this standard of living is powered wearable mobility assist devices. Although they have achieved technological breakthroughs in the last decade, their overall success is still hindered by their induced physical discomfort, which limits their effective and prolonged usage. The aim of this study is to achieve a comprehensive characterization of human-machine physical interface to further advance the performance of wearable mobility assist devices, specifically for the knee joint. This led the research group to design, fabricate, and instrument a low-cost modular knee orthosis testing apparatus with extension moment assist that allows multiple physical interface adjustment parameters. This device was conceived with the objective to conduct human testing while introducing design variables and operating parameters to evaluate device's performance. Using a force mapping apparatus and a motion capture system, the kinetic and the kinematic behaviour of the developed orthosis' physical interfaces were acquired. The results demonstrated varied impact on performance when introducing key design variables namely interface position, interface geometry, interface compliancy, interface hard-shell position, interface degree of freedom, and knee extension moment. This study provides an in-depth understanding of distinct user-device interface mechanisms and permitted an evaluation of optimum orthosis parameters to help further advance the state of wearable mobility assist devices.

与疾病、创伤或衰老相关的行动能力下降会对快速增长的老年人口的生活质量产生负面影响。维持这种生活水平的一个有前途的解决方案是电动可穿戴移动辅助设备。尽管它们在过去十年中取得了技术突破，但它们的整体成功仍然受到其引起的身体不适的阻碍，这限制了它们的有效和长期使用。本研究的目的是实现人机物理界面的全面表征，以进一步提高可穿戴移动辅助设备的性能，特别是膝关节。这导致研究小组设计、制造、并使用具有伸展力矩辅助功能的低成本模块化膝关节矫形器测试设备，允许多个物理界面调整参数。该设备旨在进行人体测试，同时引入设计变量和操作参数来评估设备的性能。使用力映射设备和运动捕捉系统，获得了开发的矫形器物理界面的动力学和运动学行为。结果表明，在引入关键设计变量（即界面位置、界面几何形状、界面顺应性、界面硬壳位置、界面自由度和膝关节伸展力矩）时，对性能的影响各不相同。