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One of the main impairments for elders to have an active life is an increasing difficulty in performing a natural gait. Some exoskeletons were identified with elder gait assistance as one of several features. However, to cover other features, these exoskeletons are generally large and bulky. Wearing a very visible device may cause an unwanted awkwardness. For this reason, the authors are developing an active exoskeleton whose sole purpose is to assist the gait of an elderly person. The proposed system is based on a low-profile design, allowing a smaller frame that permits the device to be worn beneath loose clothing, making it more desirable to wear in public by reducing social awkwardness. The framework for designing the mechanical support for the exoskeleton is presented. Three-dimensional human models were imported into Solidworks, developing the components assembled around the human models and performing finite element analysis simulations to test the system with subject of different weights. The design can adapt to several body shapes using variable distances between components. The exoskeleton frame supports 7\u2009degrees of freedom for each lower limb.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1687814017743664","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,2,5]],"date-time":"2018-02-05T05:28:43Z","timestamp":1517808523000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Designing the mechanical frame of an active exoskeleton for gait assistance"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Daniel S\u00e1","family":"Pina","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Ci\u00eancia e Inova\u00e7\u00e3o em Engenharia Mec\u00e2nica e Engenharia Industrial (INEGI), Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Ant\u00f3nio Augusto","family":"Fernandes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Ci\u00eancia e Inova\u00e7\u00e3o em Engenharia Mec\u00e2nica e Engenharia Industrial (INEGI), Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Renato Natal","family":"Jorge","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Ci\u00eancia e Inova\u00e7\u00e3o em Engenharia Mec\u00e2nica e Engenharia Industrial (INEGI), Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Joaquim","family":"Gabriel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Ci\u00eancia e Inova\u00e7\u00e3o em Engenharia Mec\u00e2nica e Engenharia Industrial (INEGI), Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,2,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-1687814017743664","unstructured":"European Commission. 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