An exoskeleton bracing system includes: a trunk support for affixing to
the trunk of a disabled person and leg braces for connecting to the legs
of the person, each leg brace including limb segment braces. Motorized
joints are adapted to provide relative angular movement between the limb
segment braces of the leg braces and between the leg braces and the trunk
support. One or more ground force sensors are designed to sense ground
force exerted on each of the leg braces. The system also includes a
controller for receiving sensed signals from said one or more ground
force sensors, with an algorithm for identifying a stance from the sensed
signals and, based on the identified stance, actuating the motorized
joints to perform an action relating to a mode of locomotion selected
from a set of predefined actions corresponding to the identified stance.