SBIR Phase I: Discrete Personal Assistance Orthotic Walking Aid

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目建议开发一种离散的、动力的、下肢矫形器行走辅助装置，以恢复受伤或残疾人的功能。而目前的大多数类似系统的目标是？放大？除了人体力量和表现超出正常水平外，拟议的系统将旨在恢复老年、受伤或其他残疾人的行动能力，这些人保持完全的运动学但运动功能不足。这种恢复的行动能力将极大地提高那些功能受限和人口老龄化的人的生活质量；有助于防止跌倒和骨折，减少对医疗护理的需求，从而降低医疗成本，和/或减少康复时间。这种下一代机器人矫形器将用一个低调和离散的系统取代助行器、轮椅、拐杖、楼梯登山器和其他辅助设备，用户将穿在衣服下面？眼不见、心不烦。通过提高一个人的站立和行走能力，S还有几个额外的好处，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解决单侧膝关节肌肉无力病理的精选子集，同时创建可用于广泛疾病和损伤的框架。这个研究团队的最终目标是利用这种模块化技术，在特定于病理/损伤的基础上开发临床和消费者解决方案，以改善或恢复功能。这项工作的成果将对电动矫形器领域产生影响，并将提高残障人士的生活质量，加快伤者的康复。这一项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将通过采用开放源码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，以便核心系统能够迅速适应其他病症。分立的个人辅助矫形行走辅助设备将成为一个平台，其他组织的研究人员可以在此平台上开发和实施基于机器人的矫形解决方案，以解决本项目将重点关注的以上和其他病理问题。虽然目前的大多数系统旨在提高人类的能力，但拟议的系统旨在恢复老年、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。这项工作的成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.