CPS:MEDIUM:Programmable Second Skin to Re-educate Injured Nervous Systems

目标和方法。这项研究的目的是创造一种新型的数字物理系统，一种自我重构的第二皮肤矫形器袖子？由可编程材料组成。戴在脑损伤患者的一个或多个肢体上的矫形器袖子可以通过促进对自身产生的肢体运动的丰富探索来恢复大脑功能。该方法包括三个步骤(1)微制造带有传感器的薄片和肌肉状的作用力致动器集合，(2)对典型的发育和早产期脑损伤婴儿进行踢腿的纵向记录，这些婴儿戴着感应器，但没有被致动的微型制造的第二皮肤，以及(3)开发生物启发的编程技术，以帮助确定一种算法，通过该算法，第二皮肤嵌入的致动器可以自适应地辅助婴儿踢腿的不断变化的发展模式。该技术可以应用于许多行动不便的人群，包括患有脑损伤的儿童和成人、老龄化人口和受伤的士兵。该项目将为以下领域的基本科学和工程研究提供信息：由大型多智能体机器人系统形成建筑结构，以及与生物系统合作自主行动的成群的小型智能体的自组织。这项研究的多机构努力将通过探索网络物理系统中生物学和计算的交叉，对本科生和研究生的科学教育产生积极影响。鼓励创新、团队合作和沟通的价值。这些努力将促进美国劳动力的教育，他们在技术上是专家，在科学上全面，并具有社会意识，以在未来日益基于技术复杂系统的基础上保持国家的卓越。

Objectives and approaches. The objective of this research is to create a novel Cyber-Physical System, a self-reconfiguring ?second skin orthotic sleeve? consisting of programmable materials. The orthotic sleeve, worn over one or more limbs of brain-injured individuals, may restore brain function by promoting enriched exploration of self-produced limb movements. The approach consists of three steps (1) micro-fabricating sheets with embedded sensors and muscle-like collections of force-producing actuators, (2) conducting longitudinal recordings of kicking by typically developing and preterm brain-injured infants who wear a sensing, but not actuated micro-fabricated second skin, and (3) developing biologically-inspired programming techniques to help determine an algorithm with which the second skin embedded actuators may adaptively assist the ever-changing developmental pattern of infant kicking.The technology can be applied to many mobility-impaired populations,including children and adults with brain injury, the ageing population, and injured soldiers. The project will inform basic scientific and engineering research in areas such as formation of architectural structures by large-scale multi-agent robotic systems, and self-organization of swarming small-scale agents that act autonomously in cooperation with biological systems. The multi-institutional effort of this research endeavor will positively impact undergraduate and graduate science education via explorations of the intersection of biology and computation in cyber-physical systems. Innovation, teamwork, and the value of communication are encouraged. These efforts will promote education of an American work force that is technically expert, scientifically comprehensive, and socially aware to sustain national excellence in a future increasingly based on technologically complex systems.