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.

该项目侧重于开发可穿戴技术，以衡量和协助移动性障碍儿童的上限移动性。由于早期生命中的流动性障碍会对心理和身体发育产生长期影响，因此重要的是通过辅助技术来帮助孩子克服这些障碍，并能够在长时间长期衡量干预措施的影响。但是，大多数辅助和感应技术都是笨重和不舒服的。项目团队将开发出柔和的，低调的感应和驱动技术，看起来像日常服装。可穿戴系统将与一组3-12岁的孩子及其护理人员一起开发和评估。这项工作将有助于发展技术对流动性障碍的理解和影响的发展，并为美国迅速发展的智能纺织品和服装行业做出贡献。 该方法依赖于缝合的，基于纺织品的传感以及软性充气结构和形状内存纤维的混合方法，以帮助肢体运动。将开发基于学习的活动识别算法，这些算法对身体形状和服装误差的差异很强。将认识到具有迁移率障碍的儿童进行的非典型运动，从而评估临床指标（例如运动范围）。所提出的系统的致动组成部分使用软气体结构来提供反杀式（升力）力，并塑造记忆合金（SMA）弹簧型执行器来提供方向控制。该系统将分为两个阶段：最初，感应部分和被动升力（充气绑架支持）将使用通常开发的儿童开发，并在4周的家庭试验中进行了15个具有移动性障碍的儿童的家庭试验。主动驱动系统将与5-10个患有行动不便的儿童合作开发和部署一年。将评估这两个系统对用户上限移动性以及系统的可用性和社会可接受性的影响。

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