Motors & Control

This page is about adding motors, gearboxes, and controlling the ExoSuit. There are some videos about this series, or scroll down for pictures and words.

Check out the first video above to hear about the ‘control theory’ and see my messing around with Hall Effect sensors to make pressure zones.

I’ve also added ball screws to each of the four leg joints and tested them out driven directly with brushless outrunners via a belt drive. This seems to work pretty well – I think power and speed will be ok.

The suit is pretty rigid – event with my prototype plastic parts supporting the balls screws and associated mechanics. Some of these parts may get replaced with machined aluminium if things work well.

I’ve added motors to the legs which turn the leadscrews via T5 belts. I’ve also added an Arduino based control system, and a power distribution system for the main motor power – supplied by two 22V liPos

I can position the limbs manually for now, seems to have enough stride!