SBIR Phase I: Discrete Personal Assistance Orthotic Walking Aid

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目建议开发一种分立的、动力的、下肢矫形行走辅助装置，以恢复受伤或残疾的功能。虽然目前大多数类似的系统旨在“放大”人类的力量和表现超出正常水平，拟议的系统旨在恢复老年人、受伤或其他残疾人的活动能力，这些人保持完整的运动功能，但运动功能不足。这种恢复的行动能力将大大提高那些有功能限制的人的生活质量和人口老龄化；有助于预防跌倒和骨折，减少对医疗护理的需求，从而降低医疗费用和/或缩短康复时间。这种下一代机器人矫形器将取代助行器、轮椅、手杖、爬楼梯器和其他辅助设备，它是一种低调的、独立的系统，用户可以把它穿在衣服里。眼不见，心不烦。通过提升个人？除了站立和行走的能力之外，还有一些额外的好处，包括预防心血管疾病，帮助减肥，以及提供减轻骨质疏松症负担所需的机械刺激。该项目的近期目标是在创建可用于广泛疾病和损伤的框架的同时，解决单侧膝关节肌肉无力病理的选择子集。该研究团队的最终目标是采用这种模块化技术，根据病理/损伤的具体情况，开发临床和消费者解决方案，以改善或恢复功能。本研究结果将对动力矫形器领域产生重大影响，提高残疾人的生活质量，加快伤者的康复。该项目的广泛影响/商业潜力将通过采用开源软件开发工具包来实现，该工具包将被开发并提供给研究社区，以便核心系统可以迅速适应其他病理。离散个人辅助矫形步行辅助将成为一个平台，其他组织的研究人员可以从这个平台上开发和实施基于机器人的矫形解决方案，以解决本项目所关注的问题。虽然目前大多数系统的目的是提高人类的能力，但拟议的系统旨在恢复老年人，受伤或其他残疾人的行动能力，这些人保持完整但有限的功能。这项工作的结果将提高残疾人的生活质量，加快伤者的康复。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 project proposes to develop a discrete, powered, lower-extremity orthotic walking aid to restore function to the injured or disabled. While the majority of current similar systems aim to ?amplify? human strength and performance beyond normal, the proposed system will aim to restore mobility in aging, injured, or otherwise disabled people who maintain complete kinematic but insufficient kinetic functionality. This restored mobility will greatly enhance quality of life for those individuals with functional limitations and the aging population; helping to prevent falls and fractures, reducing the need for medical care, and thus reducing medical costs, and/or decreasing rehabilitation time. This next-generation robotic orthosis will replace walkers, wheel chairs, canes, stair climbers, and other assistive devices with a low-profile and discrete system that users will wear under clothing ? out of sight and out of mind. By enhancing an individual?s ability to stand and walk there are several additional benefits, which include preventing cardiovascular deconditioning, helping with weight loss, and providing the mechanical stimulus required to lessen the burden of osteoporosis. The near-term goal of the project is to address a select subset of unilateral knee muscle weakness pathologies while creating the framework that can be used with a broad spectrum of diseases and injuries. The ultimate goal of this investigational team is to employ this modular technology to develop clinical and consumer solutions on a pathology/injury specific basis to improve or restore function. The results of this work will impact the field of powered orthotics as well as increase the quality of life of the physically challenged and speed up recovery of the injured. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be enabled by employing an open-source software development kit which will be developed and made available to the research community so the core system can be rapidly adapted to other pathologies. The discrete personal assistance orthotic walking aid will become a platform from which researchers at other organizations can develop and implement robotics-based orthotic solutions to pathologies above and beyond what this project will focus on. While the majority of current systems aim to increase human capability, the proposed system aims to restore mobility in aging, injured, or otherwise disabled people who maintain complete but limited functionality. The results of this work will increase the quality of life of the disabled and speed up recovery of the injured.