CAREER: Bio-inspired Multi-joint Design and Control for Efficient and Lightweight Wearable Robots

该学院早期职业发展（Career）奖将通过提供与可穿戴机器人相关的新知识，促进科学进步，促进国家健康和繁荣。可穿戴机器人，如动力外骨骼，有望通过增强、保存和恢复我们的移动能力来提高我们的生产力、健康和独立性。然而，现有的动力外骨骼笨重且效率低下，这在很大程度上阻碍了它们在现实生活中的应用。现有的动力外骨骼分别为每个佩戴者的关节提供辅助，这需要许多驱动器和大电池。相比之下，在这个项目中创造的动力外骨骼将使用仿生驱动系统，同时辅助多个佩戴者的关节，就像人类的肌肉一样。因为一个外骨骼驱动器可以帮助多个佩戴者的关节，所以需要更少的驱动器。由于能量在关节之间传递而不是消散，因此需要更小更轻的致动器和电池。由机器人专家、运动科学家和临床医生组成的多学科研究团队将与残疾人密切合作，扩大弱势群体在研究中的参与，并对工程教育产生积极影响。行走需要相当大的能量来加速和减速肢体部分，并动态地支撑身体免受重力的影响。由于腿部的被动动力学和肌肉的弹性特性，以及许多肌肉跨越多个关节，在关节之间主动传递能量，人类的步行是高效和稳定的。相比之下，现有的动力外骨骼的设计和控制将每个驱动关节视为一个独立的单元，独立于其他关节，即使多个关节被驱动。这种方法破坏了行走的自然动力学，导致效率较低和步态不稳定。该项目的目标是通过开发节能机制和受人类行走启发的控制算法来解决这一根本差距。我们将通过研究人类如何适应动力外骨骼同时为不同解剖平面或不同行走活动的多个腿部关节提供的辅助，优化多个关节之间的能量交换，以设计和控制动力外骨骼。然后，我们将设计动力外骨骼，允许不同关节之间的能量传递，在系统内保存能量，同时改善代谢成本，肌肉消耗和穿戴者的稳定性。该项目由跨部门机器人基础研究项目支持，由工程（ENG）和计算机与信息科学与工程（CISE）联合管理和资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award will promote the progress of science and advance the national health and prosperity by providing new knowledge related to wearable robotics. Wearable robots, such as powered exoskeletons, promise to improve our productivity, health, and independence by augmenting, preserving, and restoring our ability to move. However, existing powered exoskeletons are heavy and inefficient, which largely prevents them from being used in real life. Existing powered exoskeletons apply assistance to each wearer's joint separately, which requires many actuators and large batteries. In contrast, the powered exoskeletons created in this project will use bio-inspired actuation systems that concurrently assist multiple wearer’s joints, much like human muscles. Because one exoskeleton actuator assists multiple wearer’s joints, fewer actuators will be needed. Because energy is transferred between joints instead of being dissipated, smaller and lighter actuators and batteries will be needed. The multidisciplinary research team of roboticists, movement scientists, and clinicians will work closely with individuals with disabilities, broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in research and positively impact engineering education.Ambulation requires considerable energy to accelerate and decelerate the limb segments and to dynamically support the body against gravity. Human ambulation is highly efficient and stable because of the passive dynamics of the leg and the elastic properties of the muscles, and also because many muscles span multiple joints, actively transferring energy between joints. In contrast, existing powered exoskeletons are designed and controlled considering each actuated joint as a separate unit, independent from the others, even when multiple joints are actuated. This approach disrupts the natural dynamics of ambulation, resulting in less efficient and less stable gait. The goal of this project is to address this fundamental gap by developing energy-conserving mechanisms and control algorithms inspired by human ambulation. We will optimize the energy exchange across multiple joints for the design and control of powered exoskeletons by studying how humans adapt to the assistance concurrently provided by a powered exoskeleton to multiple leg joints, on different anatomical planes, or during different ambulation activities. We will then design powered exoskeletons that can allow for energy transfer between different joints, conserving energy within the system, while improving metabolic cost, muscle effort, and stability of the wearer.This project is supported by the cross-directorate Foundational Research in Robotics program, jointly managed and funded by the Directorates for Engineering (ENG) and Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE).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.