Skip to content
A pilot in the McMaster Exoskeleton suit being supported by team members during an obstacle course run.

Engineering

How the suitcomes together.

Four subteams, one machine. Every part is specified, machined and wired by students, then put on a person and tested until it holds.

The suit

Every part of this was made by a student.

The suit carries load through a rigid aluminium structure and adds torque at the hip and knee, so a pilot can climb stairs and clear obstacles wearing it. Pick a callout to see what each subsystem does and which subteam builds it.
The McMaster Exoskeleton suit worn by a pilot, annotated with its major subsystems.

Electrical

Control pack

Back-mounted enclosure carrying the battery, power distribution and controller boards. It also carries our sponsors' logos to every event we run.

Type
Powered lower-limb exoskeleton
Actuated joints
Hip and kneeBilateral
Structure
Machined aluminium
Build cycle
One academic yearFrom blank CAD to competition
Pilot control
Onboard, pilot-initiated
Safety
Hardware e-stop + rapid doff

Subsystems

What's on the machine

Every one of these is specified, sourced and integrated by a student subteam. Nothing here arrives as a kit.

Structure

  • Machined aluminium frame
  • Hip joint assembly
  • Knee joint assembly
  • Harness & fit system
  • Pilot boot interface

Actuation & power

  • Brushless joint actuators
  • Motor drivers
  • Battery pack
  • Power distribution board
  • Hardware emergency stop

Sensing & control

  • Embedded motor controllers
  • Real-time control loop
  • IMU sensing
  • Load sensing
  • Gait state machine

Toolchain

  • SolidWorks
  • KISSsoft
  • FEA
  • Custom PCB design
  • Embedded C/C++
  • Python

Subteams

Who owns what

Four groups, each responsible for a slice of the machine end to end.

Mechanical

The mechanical team designs and manufactures the exoskeleton's structural components. That means joint mechanisms, weight distribution, and material selection that supports the pilot's full range of motion below the hip while staying stable and comfortable enough to wear for a full competition run.

  • CAD the hip and knee joint assemblies in SolidWorks
  • Run FEA on load-bearing members before anything is cut
  • Machine and assemble aluminium structural parts

Electrical

The electrical team designs and implements the exoskeleton's core systems: power distribution, circuit design, sensor integration and the safety features that let a pilot trust the suit. If it carries current, this team owns it.

  • Design custom PCBs for power distribution and sensing
  • Select and integrate motor drivers and actuators
  • Build the emergency-stop and safety cutoff circuitry

Software

The software team develops the firmware that controls the exoskeleton, processes sensor input for real-time motion analysis, and turns a pilot's intent into actuator commands. The work spans bare-metal embedded control up to applied machine learning on gait data.

  • Write embedded firmware for the motor controllers
  • Build the real-time control loop and state machine
  • Process IMU and load-cell data for gait detection

Health & Safety

The safety team evaluates the exoskeleton's design for potential hazards, prepares the competition safety report, and implements the features that minimise risk during operation and testing. ACE will not let a suit onto the course without this work.

  • Run hazard analyses across mechanical, electrical and software
  • Author the ACE competition safety report
  • Define and rehearse emergency doff procedures

Process

One season, blank CAD to competition.

The team rebuilds from scratch every year. Here is what that actually looks like.
  1. 01 · Fall

    Design

    Requirements from the ACE rulebook, concept selection, then CAD and circuit design. Nothing gets cut until the analysis says it holds.

  2. 02 · Winter

    Build

    Machining, PCB assembly, wiring and firmware bring-up. Subsystems are tested standalone before they ever go on a person.

  3. 03 · Late winter

    Integrate & test

    The suit comes together, a pilot straps in, and the safety team signs off on every test session.

  4. 04 · Spring

    Compete

    Design review, safety inspection, then stairs and the obstacle course at ACE.

Work on this with usSee it at competition