IEEE Int Conf Rehabil Robot. 2022 Jul;2022:1-6. doi: 10.1109/ICORR55369.2022.9896514.
Exoskeletons for the low-back have great potential as tools to both prevent low-back pain for healthy subjects and limit its impact for chronic patients. Here, we show a proof-of-concept evaluation of our low-back exoskeleton. Its peculiar feature is the backbone-tracking kinematic structure that allows tracking the motion of the human spine while bending the trunk. This mechanism is implemented with a rigid-yet-elongating structure that does not hinder nor constrain the motion of the wearer while providing assistance. In this work, we show the first prototype we manufactured. It is equipped with a traction spring to assist the wearer during trunk flexion/extension. Then, we report the results of a preliminary test with healthy subjects. We measured a reduction of the mean absolute value for some target muscles - including the erector spinae - when using the exoskeleton for payload manipulation tasks. This was achieved without affecting task performance, measured as task time and joints range of motion. We believe these preliminary results are encouraging, paving the way for a broader experimental campaign to evaluate our exoskeleton.
外骨骼对下背部有很大的潜力，可以作为预防健康受试者下背痛和限制慢性患者疼痛影响的工具。在这里，我们展示了我们的下背部外骨骼的概念验证评估。其独特之处在于，它的脊柱跟踪运动学结构允许在弯曲躯干的同时跟踪人体脊柱的运动。该机构采用刚性但可延长的结构实现，在提供辅助的同时不会阻碍或限制佩戴者的运动。在这项工作中，我们展示了我们制造的第一个原型。它配备了一个牵引弹簧，以在躯干弯曲/伸展时帮助佩戴者。然后，我们报告了对健康受试者进行的初步测试的结果。我们测量了在使用外骨骼进行负载操作任务时，一些目标肌肉（包括竖脊肌）的平均绝对值减少。这是在不影响任务性能的情况下实现的，任务性能的衡量标准是任务时间和关节运动范围。我们认为这些初步结果令人鼓舞，为更广泛的实验活动评估我们的外骨骼铺平了道路。
