ERI: Human-Inspired Robotic Assistance to Prevent Slip-Induced Falls

ERI：仿人机器人协助防止滑倒引起的跌倒

• 批准号: 2301816
• 负责人: Mitja Trkov
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: Rowan University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2301816&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: ERI; Human; Inspired; Robotic; Assistance

This Engineering Research Initiation (ERI) project will contribute new knowledge in the field of prevention of human falls, which is a significant global health problem, and serve the national interest by promoting the progress of science and advancing national health and welfare. The project will transform existing slip and fall prevention approaches as it deviates from existing passive approaches, which include monitoring the environmental factors and training human neuromuscular slip response. This award supports fundamental research to provide needed knowledge for development of active fall prevention methodologies. Specifically, this research will demonstrate that slip-induced falls can be prevented by using a wearable device that provides external mechanical assistance to assist subjects during balance recovery and lead to new resulting balance recovery strategies of subjects that would not be possible without the device. Development of active fall prevention strategies can shift the paradigm of fall prevention approaches that can result in a significant reduction of falls and fall related injuries. The results of this research have the potential to impact the healthcare sector by improving the quality of life of the fall-prone population and reduce the associated economic and societal costs due to falls.This project focuses on the fundamental study of locomotor stability strategies during gait perturbations and human co-adaptation to the external assistance from robotic devices to prevent falls. Deviating from passive slip-and-fall prevention approaches and existing empirically derived controllers, this research will enable development of a complete control framework for active slip prevention using hip and knee exoskeleton. The main objectives of this project are: (1) to establish a fundamental understanding of the active fall prevention strategies through human-exoskeleton cooperation during gait perturbations, and (2) to create a novel bidirectional control framework enabling symbiosis and transfer learning between human and device leading to emergent behavior during slip recoveries. The control framework will integrate theoretical bipedal stability and human-inspired intersegmental coordination with the human motor control and neuromuscular responses. This project will advance our fundamental understanding on preventing slip-induced falls and establish tools to design controllers for safe and efficient assistive fall preventive strategies. This research can impact cooperative, bidirectional controller designs of other assistive device, exoskeletons, prosthesis, and robotic bipedal walkers in robotics and rehabilitation engineering.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.

该工程研究启动（ERI）项目将在预防人类跌倒这一重大的全球健康问题领域贡献新知识，并通过促进科学进步和促进国民健康和福祉来服务于国家利益。该项目将改变现有的滑倒预防方法，因为它偏离了现有的被动方法，包括监测环境因素和训练人类神经肌肉滑倒反应。该奖项支持基础研究，为积极预防跌倒方法的发展提供所需的知识。具体来说，这项研究将证明，通过使用可穿戴设备可以防止滑倒，该设备可以提供外部机械辅助，帮助受试者在平衡恢复过程中，并导致新的受试者平衡恢复策略，而没有该设备是不可能实现的。积极预防跌倒策略的发展可以改变预防跌倒方法的模式，从而显著减少跌倒和跌倒相关伤害。这项研究的结果有可能通过提高跌倒易感人群的生活质量和减少跌倒导致的相关经济和社会成本来影响医疗保健部门。本项目重点研究步态扰动下的运动稳定策略，以及人类对机器人设备外部辅助的共同适应，以防止跌倒。与被动防滑方法和现有的经验推导控制器不同，本研究将开发一个完整的控制框架，用于使用髋关节和膝关节外骨骼进行主动防滑。该项目的主要目标是：(1)通过步态扰动下的人外骨骼合作，建立对主动预防跌倒策略的基本理解；(2)创建一个新的双向控制框架，实现人与设备之间的共生和迁移学习，从而导致滑倒恢复过程中的紧急行为。控制框架将整合理论的两足稳定性和人类启发的节间协调与人类运动控制和神经肌肉反应。该项目将促进我们对预防滑倒的基本认识，并建立工具来设计安全有效的辅助预防跌倒策略的控制器。本研究对其他辅助装置、外骨骼、假体和双足步行机器人在机器人和康复工程中的合作、双向控制器设计具有一定的影响。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。