Luo Hu, Jin Tianhao, Zhang Yu, Tian Bohao, Zhang Yuru, Wang Dangxiao
State Key Lab of Virtual Reality Technology and Systems and Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, Beihang University, No. 37 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, 100191 Beijing, China.
School of General Engineering, Beihang University, No. 37 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China.
Microsyst Nanoeng. 2023 Nov 28;9:150. doi: 10.1038/s41378-023-00613-0. eCollection 2023.
Cervical spondylosis is a common disease that is often caused by long-term abnormal cervical curvature due to activities such as reading books and using computers or smartphones. This paper explores building an untethered and skin-integrated device in an e-skin form factor to monitor and haptically correct neck posture. The proposed design features a multilayered structure that integrates all flexible electronic circuits and components into a compact skin space while being untethered and skin conformal. An accelerometer in the e-skin attaches to the neck for posture sensing, while four vibration actuators closely touch the neck skin to provide localized vibrotactile stimuli that encode four-direction correction cues of neck flexion and lateral bending . To ensure the reliability of posture sensing and vibrotactile rendering during neck movement, it is necessary to prevent the e-skin device from shifting position. Thus, a hollow structure-based method is implemented for stably attaching the e-skin to the neck skin. Experiments validated the e-skin device's sensing precision, skin-conformal compliance, stickiness, stability and effectiveness during the motion of neck postures, including its discrimination of localized four-direction vibrotactile cues. A user study verified the device's performance for sensing and correcting different abnormal neck postures during activities such as using smartphones, reading books, and processing computer files. The proposed e-skin device may create opportunities for more convenient cervical spondylosis prevention and rehabilitation.
颈椎病是一种常见疾病,通常由长期诸如读书、使用电脑或智能手机等活动导致颈椎曲度异常引起。本文探索构建一种无束缚且与皮肤集成的电子皮肤形式的设备,以监测并通过触觉纠正颈部姿势。所提出的设计具有多层结构,能将所有柔性电子电路和组件集成到紧凑的皮肤空间中,同时实现无束缚且贴合皮肤。电子皮肤中的加速度计附着于颈部用于姿势传感,而四个振动致动器紧密接触颈部皮肤,以提供局部振动触觉刺激,编码颈部前屈和侧屈的四个方向的纠正提示。为确保颈部运动期间姿势传感和振动触觉呈现的可靠性,有必要防止电子皮肤设备移位。因此,实施了一种基于中空结构的方法,以将电子皮肤稳定地附着于颈部皮肤。实验验证了电子皮肤设备在颈部姿势运动期间的传感精度、皮肤贴合度、粘性、稳定性和有效性,包括其对局部四个方向振动触觉提示的辨别能力。一项用户研究验证了该设备在诸如使用智能手机、读书和处理电脑文件等活动期间感知和纠正不同异常颈部姿势的性能。所提出的电子皮肤设备可能为更便捷的颈椎病预防和康复创造机会。