Collaborative Research: Smart Shoes and Smart Socks for Abnormal Gait Diagnosis and Assistance

本研究将探讨为移动辅助设备开发先进传感和机电技术所需的基本问题，这些辅助设备将帮助完全或部分失去行走能力和/或假设无效异常运动模式的老年人和患者。即将开发的两种新型传感器系统分别是：1)由加州大学伯克利分校开发的智能鞋；2)由马里兰大学开发的智能袜子。提出的分析和识别方法将具有以下能力：1)识别人体运动的阶段，2)量化患者步态的异常，以及3)估计人体关节扭矩用于辅助装置的反馈控制。运动相位识别的有效性将通过临床试验对表现出正常步态和步态异常的人类受试者进行评估。研究结果将以多种方式加以利用，例如为患者提供反馈信息，帮助他们恢复正常的步态。该研究项目还包括一个国际组成部分，与日本筑波大学的研究人员合作，将这些传感器和运动分析策略集成到外骨骼“HAL”中，这是目前可用的最复杂的外骨骼，可以帮助患者。项目团队是多学科的、国际化的，包括来自美国两所顶尖工程学院的首席研究员、擅长物理治疗的Byl博士、筑波大学的Y. Sankai教授、研究生研究人员和本科生研究人员。这项研究的更广泛的影响包括改善身体残疾人士和行走困难的老年人的生活质量。它还将为物理治疗师诊断患者的步态提供有力的工具。实验测试装置将为本科生提供一个理想的环境，以获得机电一体化的经验，并将提供给我们的本科实验课程。研究生将前往日本，在不同于美国的文化中获得学术和社会经验。这是一个美日研究项目，在NSF-JST协议下，用于安全社会的传感器。

This research will investigate fundamental issues needed to develop advanced sensing and mechatronic technologies for mobile assistive devices that will assist elderly people and patients who have totally or partially lost the capability to walk and/or assumed an inefficient abnormal pattern of movement. The two new sensor systems to be developed are: 1) smart shoes, developed at the University of California at Berkeley, and 2) smart socks, developed at the University of Maryland. The proposed analysis and recognition method will have the following capabilities: 1) identification of the phases of human motion, 2) quantification of the abnormality of a patient's gait, and 3) estimation of the human joint torques for the feedback control of assistive devices. The effectiveness of motion phase identification will be evaluated on human subjects who exhibit a normal gait as well as those with an abnormal gait through clinical tests. Results will be utilized in a variety of ways such as providing feedback information to patients to help them resume a normal gait. The research program also involves an international component, working with researchers at Tsukuba University, Japan on integration of these sensors and motion analysis strategies into the exoskeleton 'HAL', the most sophisticated exoskeleton available today to assist patients. The project team is multidisciplinary and international, and it includes Principal Investigators from two leading engineering schools in the United States, Dr. Byl with expertise in physical therapy, Professor Y. Sankai of Tsukuba University, graduate student researchers and undergraduate researchers. The broader impacts of this research include contributions to betterment of the quality of life of physically impaired people as well as elderly people having walking problems. It will also provide a powerful tool to physical therapists in the diagnosis of gait of patients. Experimental test setups will provide an ideal environment for undergraduate students to have mechatronics experience, and will be made available to our undergraduate laboratory course. Graduate students will travel to Japan to have academic and social experience in a culture different from those in the United States.This is a US-Japan research project on sensor for the safe and secured society under the NSF-JST agreement.