SBIR Phase I: Integrating alignment angle sensors into limb prosthesis standard componentry

SBIR 第一阶段：将对准角度传感器集成到肢体假肢标准组件中

• 批准号: 1746580
• 负责人: Esteban Ruiz
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: APO Technologies, Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1746580&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Integrating; alignment; angle

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is an improvement in how artificial limbs (prostheses) are fitted to the individual user. This promises better rehabilitation outcomes for people with limb loss, which lowers the risk of long-term health issues, such as accidental falls, back pain, or conditions that are associated with a sedentary lifestyle. All those risks can carry substantial direct and indirect costs for the individual and the society at large. There are approximately 2 million Americans who are living with limb loss, and who will potentially benefit from better prosthesis fit. Beyond the expected long-term benefits, these individuals will experience immediate benefits that include a more inconspicuous gait pattern, a reduction in skin and muscle soreness, and an increase in activity radius. The commercial impact of this research will extend to the industry of prosthetic componentry manufacturing. Currently, the structural elements of prostheses are mass-produced, strictly mechanical components. The proposed work will entail the integration of miniature sensors into those components, which will make them more valuable, and - along with the economical long-term benefits - justify higher unit prices and thereby a substantial growth potential for this $400M market. The proposed project is focused on optimizing the static alignment of limb prostheses. This alignment needs to be carefully fine-tuned to each individual user of a prosthesis. The associated work is the domain of the prosthetist, who depends on experience, patient feedback, and intuition to achieve acceptable results. There are currently no easy ways to measure and track alignment changes throughout this process and therefore no data-based approaches to improving it. In the proposed project, small scale sensors will be integrated into the conventional alignable prosthesis components. These will provide continuous, accurate real-time measurements of alignment changes. It is planned to make those measurements available to the prosthetist via smartphone or tablet PC, so that they can help streamline the alignment optimization process. In the future, if it is possible to analyze the so collected data from thousands of alignment procedures, scientific methods can be applied to solve the problem of imperfect prosthesis alignments. The proposed work will be focused on customizing the sensors and associated hardware to existing standard components without making them much heavier or more expensive. Preliminary tests of the device with a sample of prosthetists are part of the planned Phase 1 project as well.

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是改进如何将假肢（假肢）安装到个人用户身上。这为肢体丧失的人提供了更好的康复结果，从而降低了长期健康问题的风险，例如意外福尔斯，背痛或与久坐不动的生活方式相关的疾病。所有这些风险都可能给个人和整个社会带来巨大的直接和间接代价。大约有200万美国人患有肢体缺失，他们可能会从更好的假肢中受益。除了预期的长期益处之外，这些人还将体验到直接的益处，包括更不明显的步态模式，皮肤和肌肉酸痛的减少以及活动半径的增加。这项研究的商业影响将扩展到假肢部件制造业。目前，假体的结构元件是大规模生产的，严格的机械部件。拟议的工作将需要将微型传感器集成到这些组件中，这将使它们更有价值，并且沿着经济的长期利益，证明更高的单价是合理的，从而为这个价值4亿美元的市场带来巨大的增长潜力。 该项目的重点是优化假肢的静态对齐。这种对准需要针对假体的每个单独用户进行仔细微调。相关的工作是修复师的领域，他们依靠经验，病人的反馈和直觉来实现可接受的结果。目前还没有简单的方法来测量和跟踪整个过程中的对齐变化，因此没有基于数据的方法来改善它。在拟议的项目中，小规模的传感器将被集成到传统的可拆卸假肢组件。这些将提供对对准变化的连续、准确的实时测量。计划通过智能手机或平板电脑向假肢医生提供这些测量结果，以便他们可以帮助简化对齐优化过程。将来，如果能够分析从数千个对线程序中收集的数据，就可以应用科学方法来解决假体对线不完美的问题。拟议的工作将侧重于根据现有标准组件定制传感器和相关硬件，而不会使它们变得更重或更昂贵。该设备的初步测试与样本的假肢也是计划的第一阶段项目的一部分。