SUMMARY: Given the advanced breakthroughs in the field of supportive robotic technologies, interest in the integration of the human body and a robot into a single system has rapidly increased. The aim of this work is to provide an overview of empowering lower limbs exoskeletons. Along with lower exoskeleton limbs, their unique design concepts, operator–exoskeleton interactions and control strategies are described. Although many problems have been solved in recent development, many challenges remain. Especially in the context of infantry soldiers, fire fighters and rescuers, the challenges of empowering exoskeletons are discussed, and improvements are outlined and described. This study is not only a summary of the current state, but also points to weaknesses of empowering lower limbs exoskeletons and outlines possible improvements.

In this article, the ultra-wideband technology for localization and tracking of the robot gripper (behind the obstacles) in industrial environments is presented. We explore the possibilities of ultra-wideband radar sensor network employing the centralized data fusion method that can significantly improve tracking capabilities in a complex environment. In this article, we present ultra-wideband radar sensor network hardware demonstrator that uses a new wireless ultra-wideband sensor with an embedded controller to detect and track online or off-line movement of the robot gripper. This sensor uses M-sequence ultra-wideband radars front-end and low-cost powerful processors on a system on chip with the advanced RISC machines (ARM) architecture as a main signal processing block. The ARM-based single board computer ODROID-XU4 platform used in our ultra-wideband sensor can provide processing power for the preprocessing of received raw radar signals, algorithms for detection and estimation of target’s coordinates, and finally, compression of data sent to the data fusion center. Data streams of compressed target coordinates are sent from each sensor node to the data fusion center in the central node using standard the wireless local area network (WLAN) interface that is the feature of the ODROID-XU4 platform. The article contains experimental results from measurements where sensors and antennas are located behind the wall or opaque material. Experimental testing confirmed capability of real-time performance of developed ultra-wideband radar sensor network hardware and acceptable precision of software. The introduced modular architecture of ultra-wideband radar sensor network can be used for fast development and testing of new real-time localization and tracking applications in industrial environments.

The article describes the concept of a locomotive construction for a robot moving along an urbanized or unstructured natural terrain. The most suitable variant was the development of a hybrid leg-wheel chassis for a service robot. It has only been confirmed that the proposed design solution for the leg-wheel hybrid chassis can largely determine activities, requiring a high degree of mobility in different application environments and, at the same time, a high efficiency motion speed over a relatively flat terrain. The geometry for the middle robot service category was processed to verify mobility. The proposed geometry has been optimized for the obstacles defined by the rescuers’ requirements. The result of the simulation is the mobility verification and the recommendation for the prototype development of the service robot.

This article deals with the analysis of geometric deviations influence on in-pipe robot locomotion, which uses the principle of friction difference principle. Bristles are as carrying elements. They are mounted as cantilever beams at angle to robot body. The robot should locomote inside industrial pipelines. All pipes have geometric deviations, which come from production process otherwise from operation process. It is necessary to know about the influence of these geometric deviations on the robot locomotion.

The paper describes design and functions of the prototype of the inertial module for motion analysis of rehabilitated persons by an robotic rehabilitation device. Described device should be used for motion analysis and progress monitoring during rehabilitation processes. In control system of rehabilitation device, inertial module may be used for safety monitoring of rehabilitation process.