Patent ID: 9675512
Date: 2017-06-13
CPC Classifications: A61H

Claim:
1. A leg locomotion device, comprising: a frame having a leg coupler configured to mount the frame to a user's leg, the frame also including two frame components movable with respect to one another in response to movement of the user's leg; an energy harvesting device coupled to the frame and configured to harvest energy from the movement of the two frame components during a first portion of a stride; an energy storage device coupled to the energy harvesting device, the energy storage device configured to store harvested energy over more than one stride of the user's leg; an assist device coupled to the frame, coupled to the energy storage device to receive energy therefrom, and configured to produce relative movement between the frame components to selectively assist with movement of the user's leg during a second portion of the stride; an electronic control unit configured to selectively and automatically actuate the assist device to control movement of the assist device to use the energy harvested over more than one stride of the user's leg to produce the relative movement between the two frame components; a location sensor coupled to the electronic control unit and configured to detect a location of the user; and a terrain information source accessible by the electronic control unit; wherein the electronic control unit is further configured to compare the detected location of the user to the terrain information source to determine the type of terrain upon which the user is striding.