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

这项研究将调查为移动辅助设备开发先进的传感和机电一体化技术所需的基本问题，这些技术将帮助老年人和完全或部分丧失行走能力和/或呈现低效异常运动模式的患者。将开发的两个新的传感器系统是：1)由加州大学伯克利分校开发的智能鞋子，以及2)由马里兰大学开发的智能袜子。所提出的分析和识别方法将具有以下能力：1)识别人体运动的相位，2)量化患者步态的异常，3)估计用于辅助装置反馈控制的人体关节力矩。通过临床试验，对步态正常的受试者和步态异常的受试者进行运动时相识别的有效性评估。结果将以多种方式利用，如向患者提供反馈信息，帮助他们恢复正常步态。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整合到外骨骼‘HAL’中，这是目前可用于帮助患者的最复杂的外骨骼。该项目团队是多学科和国际化的，成员包括来自美国两所领先工程学院的首席研究人员、具有物理治疗专业知识的拜尔博士、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对改善身体受损的人以及有行走问题的老年人的生活质量的贡献。它也将为理疗师诊断患者的步态提供一个强有力的工具。实验测试设置将为本科生提供一个理想的环境来体验机电一体化，并将用于我们的本科实验课程。研究生将前往日本，在与美国不同的文化中进行学术和社会体验。这是一个美日合作的研究项目，根据NSF-JST协议，传感器用于安全和保障社会。

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.