When we develop wearable assistive devices, comfort and support are two main issues that
need to be considered. In conventional design approaches, the degree of freedom of the
wearer's joint movements tends to be oversimplified. Accordingly, the wearer's motion
becomes restrained and bone/ligament injuries might occur in case of an unexpected fall. To
mitigate these issues, this paper proposes a novel joint link mechanism inspired by a human
spine structure as well as functionalities. The key feature of the proposed spine-like joint link …

When we develop wearable assistive devices comfort and support are two main issues
needed to be considered. In conventional design approaches, the degree of freedom of
wearer's joint movement tends to be oversimplified. Accordingly, the wearer's motion
becomes restrained and bone/ligament injuries might occur in case of unexpected fall. To
mitigate those issues, this letter proposes a novel joint link mechanism inspired by a human
spine structure as well as functionalities. The key feature of the proposed spine-like joint link …