Developing exoskeleton controllers that generalize across diverse locomotor conditions typically requires extensive motion-capture data and biomechanical labeling, limiting scalability beyond instrumented laboratory settings. Here, we present a physics-based neuromusculoskeletal learning framework that trains a hip-exoskeleton control policy entirely in simulation, without motion-capture demonstrations, and deploys it on hardware via policy distillation. A reinforcement learning teacher policy is trained using a muscle-synergy action prior over a wide range of walking speeds and slopes through a two-stage curriculum, enabling direct comparison between assisted and no-exoskeleton conditions. In simulation, exoskeleton assistance reduces mean muscle activation by up to 3.4% and mean positive joint power by up to 7.0% on level ground and ramp ascent, with benefits increasing systematically with walking speed. On hardware, the assistance profiles learned in simulation are preserved across matched speed-slope conditions (r: 0.82, RMSE: 0.03 Nm/kg), providing quantitative evidence of sim-to-real transfer without additional hardware tuning. These results demonstrate that physics-based neuromusculoskeletal simulation can serve as a practical and scalable foundation for exoskeleton controller development, substantially reducing experimental burden during the design phase.
A Comprehensive Dynamic Simulation Framework for Coupled Neuromusculoskeletal-Exoskeletal Systems
Yiwu Research Institute, Fudan University（复旦大学义乌研究院）；School of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Tongji University（同济大学航空航天与力学学院）；College of Engineering, Peking University（北京大学工学院）
A Data-Driven Reinforcement Learning Solution Framework for Optimal and Adaptive Personalization of a Hip Exoskeleton
NC State University（北卡罗来纳州立大学）；University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill（北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校）；Arizona State University（亚利桑那州立大学）；Hubei University of Technology（湖北工业大学）
A Novel Hybrid PID-LQR Controller for Sit-To-Stand Assistance Using a CAD-Integrated Simscape Multibody Lower Limb Exoskeleton
Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology（塔帕尔工程技术学院）；Khalifa University Center for Autonomous Robotic Systems (KUCARS)（哈利法大学自主机器人系统中心）；Khalifa University（哈利法大学）
