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

NRI-Small：一种用于人类步态训练的新型轻型电缆驱动主动腿部外骨骼 (C-ALEX)

• 批准号: 1339666
• 负责人: Sunil Agrawal
• 金额: $ 65.9万
• 依托单位: Columbia University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-01-01 至 2018-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1339666&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NRI; Small; Novel; Light; weight

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.

电动外骨骼矫形器目前正被积极研究用于中风患者的步态训练。这些机器通常被设计用于对受损的腿施加辅助/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事情。虽然许多这样的机器已经被开发出来并用于步态训练，但这些研究只产生了“混合”的结果，在临床上对中风患者有益。造成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，以及机构关节与人体关节的不对准。提出的工作研究了一种新颖的、突破性的电缆驱动外骨骼设计，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，也将作为受拉的结构成员。该设计将包括一个固定在骨盆上的惯性袖带，以及三个位于大腿、小腿和每条腿脚上的轻量级袖带。这使得连杆的惯性降低了一个数量级，消除了刚性关节，从而消除了不匹配和不对准。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，这些挑战将在理论上和实验上得到解决。更广泛的影响：美国每年约有70万人患中风，目前美国有450万人患有中风后遗症。这项研究可以直接影响这些人的生活质量，有可能更好的康复设备和更好的步态再训练的康复效果。该项目将扩大缆索驱动机器人在“神经康复”和“功能学习”等新兴领域的应用。该项目还将涉及与拉瓦尔大学克莱门特·戈塞林教授的研究小组的密切合作，他和PI一起被认为是“电缆机器人”领域的基础发展。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，以便将其纳入当地课程。PI通过美国国家科学基金会资助的大学范围内的RET项目与高中建立了积极的联系。几名高中教师和学生在PI的实验室工作，以确定提高神经受损受试者生活质量的技术。