Hip exoskeleton

1 paper4 findings

A human trial reports reduced biological positive work at the hip and across the lower limb, lower peak biological hip power, and higher peak total hip power with a hip exoskeleton. All 4 findings come from 1 lab in 1 country, with no opposing findings; the National Institutes of Health funds all 4.

C, W, M, H: cells, worms or flies, mice, humans. Dark: independent labs found the same change there. Light: one lab or one study. Outline: nothing yet.

Labs are independent when their papers share no last author and no institution.

Against: findings that point the other way from most findings on the same outcome.

No results posted: trials that ended more than a year ago with no results on ClinicalTrials.gov and no paper in ARN’s record.

Company ties: findings with an author at a company, or from a paper whose competing-interests statement declares ties to one.

1 lab in 1 country

Funders: National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and 2 more

Human trial1

Outcomes

Peak total hip power

upin humans1

1 study

Hip exoskeleton increases peak total hip power in humans.
Human trialn = 8
Versatile Exoskeleton Control Supports Elderly Joint Energetics During Hip-Intensive Tasks
IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering : a publication of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society1 Jan 2026

Peak biological hip power

downin humans1

1 study

Hip exoskeleton decreases peak biological hip power in humans.
Human trialn = 8
Versatile Exoskeleton Control Supports Elderly Joint Energetics During Hip-Intensive Tasks
IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering : a publication of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society1 Jan 2026

Lower limb biological positive work

downin humans1−9.3%

1 study

Hip exoskeleton decreases lower limb biological positive work in humans (-9.3%).
Human trialn = 8
Versatile Exoskeleton Control Supports Elderly Joint Energetics During Hip-Intensive Tasks
IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering : a publication of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society1 Jan 2026

Hip biological positive work

downin humans1−25%

1 study

Hip exoskeleton decreases hip biological positive work in humans (-24.7%).
Human trialn = 8
Versatile Exoskeleton Control Supports Elderly Joint Energetics During Hip-Intensive Tasks
IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering : a publication of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society1 Jan 2026

Funding

1 grant since 2025

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and BioengineeringUS$212.9k

AI-driven hip exoskeleton control framework that rapidly generalizes to a broad range of users and real-world locomotor tasks
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and BioengineeringCarnegie-mellon UniversityUS$212.9k2025–2028

Latest

1 in 12 months

IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering10 Sep

Versatile Exoskeleton Control Supports Elderly Joint Energetics During Hip-Intensive Tasks

Non-randomised trial in 8 peopleInterventions

Paper