Enabling Independent Living for Individuals with Cervical Spinal Cord Injury via High-Density Electromyography Controlled Robotic Systems

在美国，有超过10万人患有脊髓损伤，失去了双手的功能。手功能的丧失会极大地改变一个人的日常生活，迫使他们依赖照顾者提供帮助。该项目旨在开发嵌入传感器的服装，旨在监测因脊髓损伤而导致四肢瘫痪的患者的肌肉活动。这种感应式服装可以检测上半身的肌肉活动，即使是对许多失去手活动能力的脊髓损伤的人来说也是如此。通过解码和翻译这些肌肉活动，服装使个人能够控制辅助机器人执行各种家务和自我照顾任务，如独立准备和就餐，以及处理家务。这项研究准备通过恢复脊髓损伤患者一定程度的自主性和代理能力，促进可穿戴式传感的开源开发，将研究成果整合到课堂材料中，并为STEM服务不足的社区的高中生培养包容性教育和指导，从而影响社会。这项由卡内基梅隆大学和匹兹堡大学合作的项目将推出一种可穿戴的高密度肌电图(HDEMG)，以捕获神经肌肉信号，并使脊髓损伤(SCI)患者能够体现物理辅助移动机械手。为了实现这一目标，该研究项目将沿着三个方向做出关键的基础性贡献：(1)设计一种嵌入HDEMG阵列的感应化上身服装，允许捕获脊髓损伤患者的残余肌电活动和识别手势意图。研究小组将开发基于学习的模式识别技术，以解释尝试的手臂、手腕和手势的肌电活动模式，并预测潜在的运动功能意图。(2)开发一种接口，通过将肌电信号和推断的手势映射到执行器控制，使SCI患者能够体现辅助机器人。感应式服装设计为舒适和可穿戴一整天，这也需要开发实时校准算法，允许在更长的时间内准确地感知肌电活动。(3)该团队将与我们的社区合作伙伴合作，与利益攸关方一起进行一系列实验室内评估。患有脊髓损伤的患者将使用可穿戴设备远程操作辅助移动机械手，并执行一系列物理、家庭和自我护理活动。这些研究将量化技术性能和效率，评估安全性，并通过利益相关者反馈支持对关键技术组件的迭代改进和改进。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。

In the United States, there are over 100,000 individuals living with a spinal cord injury who have lost the use of their hands. The loss of hand function can dramatically change a person’s daily life, forcing them to rely on caregivers to provide assistance. This project aims to develop sensor-embedded garments designed to monitor muscle activity in individuals with tetraplegia resulting from spinal cord injuries. This sensorized garment detects muscle activity in the upper body, even for many people with spinal cord injuries who have lost hand mobility. By decoding and translating these muscle activities, the garment empowers individuals to take control of an assistive robot to perform a variety of household and self-care tasks, such as preparing and eating meals independently and conducting household chores. This research is poised to impact society by restoring a degree of autonomy and agency to individuals with spinal cord injury, promoting open-source development in wearable sensing, integrating research findings into classroom materials, and fostering inclusive education and mentorship for high school students from communities underserved in STEM.This collaborative project between Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh will introduce a high-density electromyography (HDEMG) wearable to capture neuromuscular signals and enable individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) to embody a physically assistive mobile manipulator. Towards this goal, the research project will make key foundational contributions along three thrusts: (1) The design of a sensorized upper-body garment embedded with HDEMG arrays, allowing the capture of residual myoelectric activity and recognition of gesture intent in individuals with SCI. The research team will develop learning-based pattern recognition techniques to interpret the myoelectric activity patterns of attempted arm, wrist, and hand gestures and predict the underlying motor function intent. (2) Development of an interface that enables individuals with SCI to embody an assistive robot by mapping myoelectric signals and inferred gestures to actuator control. The sensorized garment is designed to be comfortable and wearable throughout an entire day, which also necessitates the development of real-time calibration algorithms that allow for accurate myoelectric activity sensing over extended periods of time. (3) The team will conduct a series of in-lab evaluations with stakeholders in collaboration with our community partners. Individuals with SCI will use the wearable to teleoperate an assistive mobile manipulator and perform a range of physical household and self-care activities. These studies will quantify technology performance and efficacy, assess safety, and support iterative refinement and improvements to the key technology components with stakeholder feedback.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.