Assist Force Control of Smart Suit for Horse Trainers Considering Motion Synchronization

Abstract

This paper describes semi-active assist control in the form of a smart suit for horse trainers. We have developed a soft and flexible power assist device named “smart suit” for reducing user's physical fatigue. The smart suit is a kind of semi-active and flexible power assist devices. The semi-active assist mechanism consisting of elastic materials and a small DC motor is our original technology. The assist force is basically gained by the elastic force of elastic materials, and it is controlled by adjusting the length of the elastic materials by using DC motor. In this study, we applied the smart suit to horse trainers for reducing their physical fatigue in horse training to prevent their injuries. Moreover we developed an assist force control method based on periodical input control to gain the suitable assist force.