SBIR Phase I: Discrete Personal Assistance Orthotic Walking Aid

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第1阶段项目建议开发一种离散的，动力的，下肢矫形助行器，以恢复受伤或残疾人的功能。 虽然目前大多数类似的系统旨在？放大？由于人的力量和表现超出正常水平，所提出的系统将旨在恢复老年人、受伤者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。 这种恢复的活动性将极大地提高那些具有功能限制的个体和老龄化人口的生活质量;有助于防止福尔斯和骨折，减少对医疗护理的需求，从而减少医疗成本和/或减少康复时间。 这种下一代机器人矫形器将取代步行机，轮椅，手杖，爬楼梯，和其他辅助设备与低姿态和离散系统，用户将穿在衣服？眼不见心不烦 通过提高个人？除了站立和行走的能力外，还有几个额外的好处，包括防止心血管失调，帮助减肥，并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解决单侧膝关节肌无力病理的一个选择子集，同时创建可用于广泛疾病和损伤的框架。 该研究团队的最终目标是采用这种模块化技术，在病理/损伤特定的基础上开发临床和消费者解决方案，以改善或恢复功能。 这项工作的结果将影响动力矫形领域，并提高身体残疾者的生活质量，加快受伤者的康复。 该项目的更广泛的影响/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界，以便核心系统可以快速适应其他病理学。 这个独立的个人辅助矫形行走辅助器将成为一个平台，其他组织的研究人员可以在这个平台上开发和实施基于机器人的矫形解决方案，以解决本项目关注的病理问题。虽然目前大多数系统旨在提高人类的能力，但拟议中的系统旨在恢复老年人、受伤者或其他残疾人的活动能力，这些人保持完整但有限的功能。 这项工作的成果将提高残疾人的生活质量，加快受伤者的康复。

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.