Our team is building a powered lower-body exoskeleton for the 2025 Applied Collegiate Exoskeleton (ACE) Competition—an international event hosted by the University of Michigan that challenges student teams to engineer wearable robots capable of reducing metabolic cost and improving load carriage for first-responders and industrial workers. The thigh linkage is the core structural element that transfers hip-generated torque to the knee while withstanding dynamic loads from walking, squatting, and stair-climbing; it must therefore balance strength, stiffness, weight, and manufacturability within the ACE rulebook’s safety and performance limits.

I worked on the thigh-linkage mechanical design in SolidWorks—iterating through topology studies and hand calculations to size every member and joint for peak axial and bending loads.  After comparing several material options and having several team discussions, we chose a mix of 3-D-printed carbon shells, lightweight aluminum links, and steel inserts for key joints. I then worked on producing clear, shop-ready drawings—with essential tolerances and build notes making sure all parts are ready for CNC machining—to ensure our machine shop and and printers can turn the design into reliable parts.