Collaborative Research: EAGER: Technology-Assisted Accessible Clothing: Soft Robotic Interaction Technologies and an Assessment Framework for Clothing Accessibility

这项研究将调查使用最简的、基于服装的辅助软机器人来量化、评估和改善日常服装的物理可获得性的策略。为此，一项合作努力将服装设计、软机器人、人机交互/人为因素和康复方面的专家聚集在一起，探索无障碍设计和基于服装的机器人设计中的未决问题。该项目将为一项大规模研究奠定基础，以追求无处不在的服装的未来，这种服装无缝地融合了日常服装和软机器人，并满足了用户的各种能力、限制、需求和目标。项目成果最终将带来评估和机器人定制/支持广泛可穿戴系统的人体服装界面的新方法，从日常服装到机器人外骨骼再到矫形器/假肢。将通过两项具体努力实现项目目标：(1)制定一套可推广的、由用户确定的评价标准/尺度，用于评估服装的可及性；(2)设计和实施自我收紧/系紧的“机器人腰带”，作为软机器人“服装”的概念验证原型，以初步证明该方法的可行性和变革潜力。新颖的服装无障碍评估指标和软机器人技术的概念验证相结合，将为开发和部署几种基于服装的软机器人无障碍解决方案奠定基础，并与现有的被动无障碍解决方案相比，评估它们在改善日常服装无障碍方面的影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This research will investigate strategies to quantify, evaluate, and improve physical accessibility of everyday clothing using minimalistic, garment-based assistive soft robotics. To this end, a collaborative effort brings together experts in apparel design, soft robotics, human-computer interaction/human factors, and rehabilitation to explore open questions both in design for accessibility and in garment-based robotics. The project will lay the groundwork for a large-scale study to pursue a future of universally accessible clothing that seamlessly blends everyday garments and soft robotics, and which accommodates users with a variety of abilities, limitations, needs, and objectives. Project outcomes will ultimately lead to new approaches to both evaluate and robotically customize/support body-garment interfaces for a wide range of wearable systems, from everyday clothing to robotic exoskeletons to orthoses/prostheses. Project goals will be pursued through two specific thrusts: (1) Formulate a set of generalizable user-identified evaluation criteria / metrics for assessing accessibility of garments; (2) Design and implement a self-tightening / fastening "robotic belt" as a proof-of-concept prototype of a soft robotic "garment" to establish preliminary evidence of the feasibility and transformative potential of the approach. The novel garment accessibility evaluation metrics and soft-robotic technology proof-of-concept combined will set the stage for the development and deployment o several garment-based soft-robotic accessibility solutions and evaluation of their impact at improving accessibility of everyday clothing compared to existing passive accessibility solutions.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.