SCH: INT: Collaborative Research: Smart Wearable Systems to Support and Measure Movement in Children With and Without Mobility Impairments

SCH：INT：合作研究：支持和测量有或没有行动障碍儿童的运动的智能可穿戴系统

• 批准号: 1722540
• 负责人: Thomas Martin
• 金额: $ 39.54万
• 依托单位: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-10-01 至 2022-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1722540&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SCH; INT; Collaborative; Research; Smart

This project focuses on the development of wearable technologies to measure and assist upper-limb mobility in children with mobility impairments. Because mobility impairments in early life can have long-term effects on psychological as well as physical development, it is important both to help children overcome these impairments through assistive technologies and to be able to measure the effect of interventions in everyday movements over long periods of time. However, most assistive and sensing technologies are bulky and uncomfortable. The project team will develop soft, low-profile sensing and actuating technologies that look and feel like everyday clothing. The wearable systems will be developed and evaluated with a group of 3-12 year old children and their caregivers. This work will contribute to the development of technologies that enable understanding and effects of interventions on mobility impairments, and contribute to the burgeoning smart textiles and clothing industry in the USA. The approach relies on stitched, textile-based sensing and a hybrid approach of soft inflatable structures and shape-memory fibers to assist limb movements. Learning based activity recognition algorithms will be developed that are robust to differences in body shape and garment-movement error. The atypical movements performed by children with mobility impairments will be recognized, enabling assessment of clinical indicators like range of movement. The actuating component of the proposed system uses soft pneumatic structures to provide counter-gravitational (lift) forces, and Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) spring-type actuators to provide directional control. The system will be developed in two phases: initially, the sensing component and the passive lift (inflatable abduction support) will be developed using typically-developing children, and tested in 4-week in-home trials with 15 children with mobility impairments. The active actuated system will be developed and deployed in collaboration with 5-10 families with children with mobility impairments over a period of one year. The effects of both systems on user?s upper-limb mobility as well as the usability and social acceptability of the systems will be evaluated.

该项目的重点是开发可穿戴技术，以测量和帮助有行动障碍的儿童的上肢活动。由于早期的行动障碍会对心理和身体发育产生长期影响，因此通过辅助技术帮助儿童克服这些障碍以及能够衡量干预措施在长期日常运动中的效果都很重要。然而，大多数辅助和传感技术体积庞大，不舒服。该项目团队将开发柔软、低调的传感和驱动技术，看起来和感觉就像日常服装一样。可穿戴系统将由一组3-12岁的儿童及其护理人员开发和评估。这项工作将有助于开发技术，使人们能够理解干预措施对行动障碍的影响，并为美国新兴的智能纺织品和服装行业做出贡献。 该方法依赖于缝合，基于纺织品的传感和软充气结构和形状记忆纤维的混合方法来辅助肢体运动。将开发基于学习的活动识别算法，该算法对体型和服装运动误差的差异具有鲁棒性。行动障碍儿童的非典型运动将得到识别，从而能够评估活动范围等临床指标。所提出的系统的致动部件使用软气动结构来提供反重力（提升）力，并且使用形状记忆合金（SMA）弹簧型致动器来提供方向控制。该系统将分两个阶段开发：首先，将使用典型发育儿童开发传感组件和被动提升（充气外展支撑），并在15名行动障碍儿童的4周家庭试验中进行测试。主动驱动系统将在一年内与5-10个有行动障碍儿童的家庭合作开发和部署。这两个系统对用户的影响？的上肢活动性以及系统的可用性和社会可接受性将进行评估。

项目成果

Design of a Hybrid SMA-Pneumatic based Wearable Upper Limb Exoskeleton

基于 SMA-气动的混合可穿戴上肢外骨骼的设计

• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: International Symposium on Wearable Computers Design Exhibition
• 作者: Alireza Golgouneh, Eric Beaudette