Researchers launch open-source robotic exoskeleton to help people walk

Imagine a future in which people with disabilities can walk on their own, thanks to robotic legs. A new project from Northern Arizona University is accelerating that future with an open-source robotic exoskeleton.

Right now, developing these complex electromechanical systems is expensive and time-consuming, which likely stops a lot of research before it ever starts. But that may soon change: Years of research from NAU associate professor Zach Lerner’s Biomechatronics Lab has led to the first comprehensive open-source exoskeleton framework, made freely available to anyone worldwide. It will help overcome several huge obstacles for potential exoskeleton developers and researchers.

An effective exoskeleton must be biomechanically beneficial to the person wearing it, which means that developing them requires extensive trial, error and adaptation to specific use cases.

Exoskeletons also have many moving parts, different technologies and system dependencies, and their development requires broad expertise in many types of engineering, computer science and even physiology. Lerner’s system helps address all of these challenges because it lets new developers leverage years of prior work, picking up where their predecessors left off.

Called OpenExo, published in Science Robotics, the open-source system provides comprehensive instructions for building a single- or multi-joint exoskeleton, including design files, code and step-by-step guides. It’s free for anyone to use.

“Our project is important to the research community because it significantly lowers the barriers to entry,” Lerner said. “In a time of diminishing federal grant funding, open-source systems like OpenExo have become increasingly critical for facilitating state-of-the-art research on robot-aided rehabilitation and mobility augmentation.”

Lerner’s team has already helped children with cerebral palsy keep up with their friends and helped patients with gait disorders and disabilities optimize their rehabilitation. That research has resulted in millions of dollars in grant money and launched a spin-off that brought a robotic ankle device to the market. Lerner and his students have also been awarded nine patents related to the development of these exoskeletons.

Lerner said he hopes to see research into this area take off through the use of OpenExo.

“Exoskeletons transform ability,” he said. “There is nothing more fulfilling than working on technology that can make an immediate positive impact on someone’s life.”

Postdoctoral scholar Jack Williams is the paper’s first author.