BRITE Synergy: Programmable Wearable Textile Robotics for Ubiquitous Assistance

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This Boosting Research Ideas for Transformative and Equitable Advances in Engineering (BRITE) Synergy award supports research into new wearable robotic systems created with a unique manufacturing process. This project aims to develop a new class of garment-like robots that will provide assistive technology for patients with neuromuscular disorders and other disabilities, as well as augmentive capabilities for workers in everyday use. In clinical applications, this new class of wearable robots will be able to provide vital-signal monitoring for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation with high comfort, biocompatibility, and operability, improving personalized healthcare. The assistive robots can augment upper limb capabilities and prevent injuries in challenging working conditions. This project will disseminate the research products to a broad audience in both classrooms and communities through various activities. It will also provide training to students, especially those from groups underrepresented in STEM.The research goal of this project is to establish a new class of smart and programmable wearable textile robots for upper extremity assistance. The robots will integrate sensing, understanding, and mimicking of skeletal muscle behaviors in real time, through mechanisms based on textile materials made by novel manufacturing techniques. To achieve the goal, multidisciplinary knowledge needs to be integrated, including wearable sensing, continuous feature recognition, distributed actuation, and wearable robot design and control. Two research tasks are planned for achieving the research goal: 1) Developing smart and robust textile-based human interfaces and building understanding of muscle behaviors and 2) developing wearable textile robots based on programmable distributed actuators controlled by human inputs. The success of this project will promote the mass production of textile robots as a next-generation technology for ubiquitous assistance.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.