Park Evelyn J, Akbas Tunc, Eckert-Erdheim Asa, Sloot Lizeth H, Nuckols Richard W, Orzel Dorothy, Schumm Lexine, Ellis Terry D, Awad Louis N, Walsh Conor J
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA.
Institute for Computer Engineering (ZITI) at Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
IEEE Trans Med Robot Bionics. 2020;2(2):165-175. doi: 10.1109/tmrb.2020.2989321. Epub 2020 Apr 21.
In individuals with motor impairments such as those post-stroke or with cerebral palsy, the function of the knee extensors may be affected during walking, resulting in decreased mobility. We have designed a lightweight, hinge-free wearable robot combining soft textile exosuit components with integrated rigid components, which assists knee extension when needed but is otherwise highly transparent to the wearer. The exosuit can apply a wide range of assistance profiles using a flexible multi-point reference trajectory generator. Additionally, we implemented a controller safety limit to address the risk of hyperextension stemming from the hinge-free design. The exosuit was evaluated on six healthy participants walking uphill and downhill on a treadmill at a 10° slope with a set of joint power-inspired assistance profiles. A comparison of sagittal plane joint angles between no exosuit and exosuit unpowered conditions validated the device transparency. With positive power assistance, we observed reduction in average positive knee biological power during uphill walking (left: 17.5 ± 3.21%, = 0.005; right: 23.2 ± 3.54%, = 0.008). These initial findings show promise for the assistive capability of the device and its potential to improve the quality of gait and increase mobility in clinical populations.
在患有运动障碍的个体中，如中风后或患有脑瘫的个体，行走过程中膝关节伸肌的功能可能会受到影响，导致活动能力下降。我们设计了一种轻便、无铰链的可穿戴机器人，它将柔软的纺织外骨骼组件与集成的刚性组件相结合，在需要时辅助膝关节伸展，否则对穿戴者具有高度的透明性。该外骨骼可以使用灵活的多点参考轨迹生成器应用广泛的辅助模式。此外，我们实施了控制器安全限制，以解决无铰链设计导致的膝关节过度伸展风险。在六名健康参与者在跑步机上以10°坡度上坡和下坡行走时，使用一组受关节功率启发的辅助模式对该外骨骼进行了评估。无外骨骼和外骨骼未通电状态下矢状面关节角度的比较验证了该设备的透明性。在正向功率辅助下，我们观察到上坡行走期间平均正向膝关节生物功率降低（左侧：17.5±3.21%，P = 0.005；右侧：23.2±3.54%，P = 0.008）。这些初步研究结果显示了该设备的辅助能力及其改善临床人群步态质量和增加活动能力的潜力。
