CAREER: Versatile Wearable Robots for Rehabilitation of Children with Gait Disabilities

职业：用于步态障碍儿童康复的多功能可穿戴机器人

• 批准号: 1944655
• 负责人: Hao Su
• 金额: $ 55.23万
• 依托单位: CUNY City College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-04-15 至 2022-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1944655&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Versatile; Wearable; Robots; Rehabilitation

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant seeks to enhance the usability and comfort of a powered knee exoskeleton that is designed to improve gait biomechanics and walking metabolic economy in children with cerebral palsy. By leveraging novel actuators and wearable sensor technology, the PI will develop an exoskeleton system that can "grow" in capability as the child grows. The PI will also design a task-recognition system (intent estimation) that facilitates high-level exoskeleton control. That high-level control is augmented using a model-free adaptive controller that can provide user-specific joint torque assistance. This project will promote the progress of science and advance the national health by establishing theoretical foundations for - and a physical realization of - a new approach to rehabilitating pediatric gait, one that is safe, lightweight, compliant, smart, and able to be used in community settings. An integrated research and education plan and innovative outreach activities targeted to elementary- and high-school students will promote a globally competitive STEM workforce and the participation of women and underrepresented minorities in STEM. Efforts to further develop a "Soft Robot Zoo" will increase public scientific literacy and engagement with robotics.This project seeks to reduce gait impairments in children with cerebral palsy using a novel powered knee exoskeleton that can anticipate changing needs for joint torque assistance based on changing task conditions as well as changing user intentions with regard to gait transitions. Three main research objectives are researched: an optimization of human-machine interaction using "quasi-direct drive actuated" wearable robotics; kinematic activity classification and gait mode detection in children with cerebral palsy using wearable sensor technology; and the development of a reinforcement learning (RL-based) adaptive controller for assistive joint torque personalization. Taken together, these research activities promise to enhance human/machine collaboration in a real-world setting for children contending with physical disability.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这位教师早期职业发展（职业）助理旨在增强膝盖外骨骼的可用性和舒适性，旨在改善脑瘫儿童的步态生物力学和步行代谢经济。通过利用新型的执行器和可穿戴传感器技术，PI将开发出一种外骨骼系统，该系统可以随着孩子的成长而“增长”。 PI还将设计一个任务识别系统（意图估计），该系统有助于高级外骨骼控制。使用无模型的自适应控制器增强了高级控制，该控制器可以提供特定于用户的关节扭矩辅助。该项目将通过建立理论基础来促进科学的进步，并通过建立一种理论基础，以实现一种新的方法来修复小儿步态，该方法是安全，轻巧，轻巧，合规，智能并且能够用于社区环境中的方法。针对小学和高中生的综合研究和教育计划以及创新的外展活动将促进全球竞争激烈的STEM劳动力，以及妇女和代表性不足的STEM的参与。为了进一步开发“软机器人动物园”的努力将提高公共科学素养和与机器人技术的参与。本项目旨在使用一种新型的动力膝盖外骨骼减少脑瘫儿童的步态障碍，这些膝盖骨骼可以预期基于变化的任务条件以及对步态过渡的变化意图的不断变化的连接扭矩辅助需求。研究了三个主要的研究目标：使用“准直接驱动驱动”可穿戴机器人技术对人机相互作用进行优化；使用可穿戴传感器技术的儿童患有脑瘫儿童的运动学活动分类和步态模式检测；并开发增强学习（基于RL）的自适应控制器，以辅助联合扭矩个性化。综上所述，这些研究活动有望在现实世界中为与身体残疾竞争的儿童进行增强人/机器协作。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子和更广泛影响的评估来通过评估来支持的。