CAREER: Textile-Based Wearable Robots with Integrated Fluidic Logic

该学院早期职业发展（CAREER）奖支持将流体计算（其中电子电压和电流被流体压力差和流量取代）直接集成到基于纺织品的平台中的研究。将流体逻辑集成到纺织品中是迈向完全柔软、无束缚的可穿戴辅助机器人的重要一步，该机器人能够改善美国8500万身体功能受限的成年人的生活质量。现有的用于运动辅助和康复的软流体致动器目前依赖于硬阀和笨重的电子控制系统，这增加了系统重量并降低了舒适性，或者需要笨重的系绳连接到外部基础设施，从而限制了这些技术的采用。基于纺织品的流体计算机将克服这一限制，允许板载存储器，决策和与环境的交互，并导致真正柔软的可穿戴辅助机器人，外观和感觉就像日常服装。一个专注于教学、推广和辅导的综合教育计划将允许同时开发有影响力的创新技术，并促进STEM领域的下一代领导者。计划的活动包括在当地博物馆推广和本科课程中使用动手流体逻辑组件，这些课程将在网上传播，并对高中和本科生进行纵向指导，重点关注代表性不足的群体。首先，通过设计和表征电阻器，电容器和继电器的基于纺织品的流体模拟物，将在电路元件层面上形成深刻的基本理解。这些电路元件将被用作流体数字逻辑的构建块，这些逻辑将在速度和其他计算指标方面实现高性能。最后，由数字逻辑元件构成的流体计算机将直接集成到可穿戴辅助机器人的结构中，沿着基于纺织品的输入/输出设备和致动器。默认情况下，所有设计本质上都是复合材料，性能取决于材料选择和活动元素几何形状。设计和实验特性将大大有助于物理建模，包括流体流动的分析非线性模型。电路元件以及逻辑电路的验证模型将是研究成果之一。设计的可扩展性和制造的可重复性将是评估各级成功的关键因素。该项目得到了机器人项目跨部门基础研究的支持，由工程局（ENG）和计算机与信息科学与工程局（CISE）共同管理和资助该奖项反映了NSF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 supports research to integrate fluidic computation—in which electronic voltages and currents are replaced by fluid pressure differences and flows—directly into a textile-based platform. Integration of fluidic logic in textiles represents an important step toward fully soft, untethered wearable assistive robots capable of improving quality of life for the 85 million adults in the United States living with physical functional limitations. Existing soft fluidic actuators for motion assistance and rehabilitation currently rely on hard valves and bulky electronic control systems which increase system weight and decrease comfort or require cumbersome tethers to external infrastructure, limiting adoption of these technologies. Textile-based fluidic computers will overcome this limitation, allowing onboard memory, decision making, and interaction with the environment, and leading to truly soft wearable assistive robots that look and feel like everyday clothing. An integrated educational plan focused on teaching, outreach, and mentoring will allow simultaneous development of impactful and innovative technology and promotion of the next generation of leaders in STEM. Planned activities include the use of hands-on fluid logic components in a local museum outreach and undergraduate curriculum that will be disseminated online, and longitudinal mentoring of high school and undergraduate students, with focus on underrepresented groups.To develop a textile-based platform for fluidic computation, a stepwise approach is taken. First, a deep fundamental understanding will be developed at the circuit element level by designing and characterizing textile-based fluidic analogs to resistors, capacitors, and relays. These circuit elements will be used as building blocks for fluidic digital logic, which will be engineered for high performance in terms of speed and other computational metrics. Finally, fluidic computers constructed from digital logic elements will be integrated directly into the structure of wearable assistive robots along with textile-based input/output devices and actuators. By default, all designs will be composite in nature, with performance dependent upon material choices and active element geometries. Design and experimental characterization will be significantly aided with physical modeling, including analytical nonlinear models of fluid flow. Validated models of circuit elements as well as logic circuits will be one of the research outcomes. Scalability of design and repeatability of fabrication will be key factors in the evaluation of success at all levels.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.