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

电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成在受损的腿上施加辅助/阻力力，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。虽然已经开发了一些这样的机器并将其用于步态训练，但这些研究在临床上对中风患者的益处只产生了“好坏参半”的结果。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，以及机构关节与人类关节的不对准。这项拟议的工作研究了一种新颖的、开创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，缆索将驱动活动的肢体，也将作为受拉的结构构件。该设计将包括一个固定在骨盆上的惯性袖带，以及每条腿的大腿、小腿和脚上的三个轻型袖带。这将使连杆的惯性降低一个数量级，并消除刚性联接，进而消除不匹配和不对中。然而，电缆只能拉而不能推的事实引发了许多科学和设计挑战，这些挑战将从理论和实验上得到解决。广泛的影响：美国每年约有70万人中风，目前美国有450万人患有中风的后遗症。这项研究可以直接影响这些人的生活质量，因为他们有可能拥有更好的康复设备和更好的再训练步态的康复结果。该项目将把缆绳驱动机器人的应用范围扩大到“神经康复”和“功能学习”这两个新兴领域。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，该小组与PI一起，被认为是“缆索机器人”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NSF资助的大学范围内的RET计划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。

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.