NRI-Small: A Novel Light-weight Cable-driven Active Leg Exoskeleton (C-ALEX) for Training of Human Gait

机动外骨骼矫形器目前正在积极研究用于中风患者的步态训练。这些机器通常被设计为在受损的腿上施加辅助/阻力，以帮助人类受试者改善行走，类似于治疗师在训练期间所做的。虽然已经开发了许多这样的机器并用于步态训练，但这些研究在临床上对中风患者的益处方面只产生了“混合”结果。这些令人失望的结果的原因是机构的高惯性，人与机器之间的约束不匹配，以及机构关节与人关节的不对准。所提出的工作研究了一种新颖的和突破性的设计，电缆驱动的外骨骼，以解决这些缺点。基于对机制和治疗控制方法的广泛研究，电缆将驱动运动肢体，也将作为张力结构构件。该设计将包括一个连接到骨盆的惯性固定袖带和三个位于每条腿的大腿、小腿和足部的轻质袖带。这导致连杆惯性的数量级减小，并消除了刚性接头，这反过来又消除了不匹配和未对准。然而，电缆只能拉而不能推的事实提出了许多科学和设计挑战，这些挑战将在理论和实验上得到解决。更广泛的影响：每年，美国约有70万人发生中风，目前美国有450万人生活在中风的后遗症中。这项研究可以直接影响这些人的生活质量，可能会有更好的康复设备和更好的康复效果，以重新训练他们的步态。本计画将拓展缆线驱动机器人在“神经复健”与“功能学习”等新兴领域的应用。该项目还将与拉瓦尔大学的克莱门特·戈斯林教授的研究小组密切合作，该研究小组与PI一起沿着被认为是“电缆机器人”领域的基础性发展。“该项目还将鼓励本科生参与研究，并为高中教师/学生提供培训和范例，以纳入当地课程。PI通过一个由NSF资助的大学范围的RET计划与高中建立了积极的联系。一些高中教师和学生在PI的实验室工作，以确定技术，以提高生活质量的神经受损的科目。

Motorized exoskeletal orthoses are being actively researched today for gait training of stroke patients. These machines are typically designed to apply assistive/resistive forces on the impaired leg to help human subjects to improve walking, similar to what therapists do during training. While a number of such machines have been developed and used for gait training, these studies have only yielded "mixed" results in benefiting stroke patients clinically. The reasons for these disappointing results are the high inertia of the mechanisms, a mis-match in constraints between human and machine, and misalignment of the mechanism joints with the human joints. The proposed work investigates a novel and ground-breaking design of a cable driven exoskeleton to address these shortcomings. Based on extensive study of mechanisms and therapeutic control methods, cables will actuate the moving limbs and will also serve as structural members in tension. The design will consist of an inertial fixed cuff attached to the pelvis and three lightweight cuffs on the thigh, shank, and foot of each leg. This results in an order-of-magnitude reduction in the inertia of the links and eliminates rigid joints which, in turn, eliminates the mis-match and misalignment. Yet, the fact that cables can only pull and not push raises many scientific and design challenges that will be addressed theoretically and experimentally.Broader Impact: Each year, about 700,000 people in the U.S. have an incidence of a stroke and currently there are 4.5 million people in the U.S. living with the after-effects of stroke. This research can directly impact the quality of life of these individuals with potentially better rehabilitative equipment and better rehabilitative results for retraining of their gait. This project will broaden the application of cable-driven robots to the emerging field of "neuro-rehabilitation" and "functional learning." This project will also involve close co-operation with Professor Clement Gosselin's research group at Laval University, who along with the PI, is credited with fundamental developments to the field of "cable robots." The project will also encourage undergraduate involvement in research as well as provide training and examples for a high school teacher/student to incorporate into the local curriculum. The PI has active links with high schools through a college-wide NSF-funded RET program. Several high school teachers and students have worked in the PI's laboratory to identify technologies to improve quality of life of neural impaired subjects.