NSF Convergence Accelerator Track M: Soft Growing Robots for Mobility Support

在后大流行时代，美国面临着一场老年人护理危机。严重的劳动力短缺，加上与老年护理相关的高成本，迫使养老院关闭或提供不合标准的护理。此外，超过70万老年人正在等待各州提供的医疗补助家庭和社区服务。在专业照护之外，照护的责任往往落在家庭成员、亲戚和朋友身上。在美国，超过5300万私人护理人员在照顾老年人时承受着巨大的身体、精神和经济压力；许多人减少了工作时间，甚至放弃了全职工作。该项目旨在帮助老年人和护理人员进行费力甚至危险的行动支持。例如，将老年人从床上转移到轮椅上是一项令人疲劳的艰巨任务，导致许多护理人员背部受伤。一种易于使用的温和而坚固的机器人皮带系统可以在老年人的背部下方抬起他们的身体，可以安全地将他们转移到轮椅上。不需要叫护工。老年人可以自己下床，更加独立地生活。特殊的皮带设计灵感来自于具有柔软生长附属物的生物物种，如海洋蠕虫和爬升叶片。把尖端伸到沉重的人体下面就像在土壤里挖洞一样。一些“环虫”让它们的内脏像楔子一样，通过裂缝扩展在沉积物中移动。采用一种由双层管状板组成的柔性机器人装置实现了这种海洋蠕虫的外翻机构。当加压空气被供应给管状薄片时，尖端延伸并进入人体下方。管状板可以有很高的抗拉强度来提升身体。该项目将建立软可扩展带技术，用于保持和提升人类，并开发一个功能原型，用于安全，温和和自主转移老年人。支持设备的成功部署不能仅靠先进的设计来实现。产品开发方法将被应用于在整个项目中获得最终用户的反馈，并且将建立有效部署技术和消除采用障碍的策略。特别重要的是用户的参与和指导，这样他们就可以轻松安全地使用设备。该项目将应用大型语言模型和人机交互方法来增强用户参与度和引导。该项目将与护理机构的护理专业人员密切合作。老年人与护理者之间以及与护理机器人之间的对话和身体互动数据将被获取并用于生成基于人工智能的用户指导和交互系统。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。

In the post-pandemic era, the US faces an eldercare crisis. A severe workforce shortage, combined with the high costs associated with eldercare, is forcing nursing homes to close or provide substandard care. Furthermore, over 700,000 older adults are on waiting lists for Medicaid home and community-based services provided by individual states. Outside of professional caregiving, care responsibilities often fall to family members, relatives, and friends. Over 53 million private caregivers in the US are experiencing enormous physical, mental, and financial stress caring for older adults; many reduce their working hours and even give up their full-time jobs. This project aims to assist both older adults and caregivers in laborious and even dangerous mobility support. Transferring an older adult from a bed to a wheelchair, for example, is a fatiguing, strenuous task, causing numerous caregivers back injuries. An easy-to-use system of gentle yet strong robotic belts that go beneath the back of older adults and lift their body could safely transfer them to a wheelchair. No need to call a caregiver. Older adults can get out of bed on their own and live more independently.The special belt design was inspired from biological species with soft growing appendages such as marine worms and climbing vanes. Extending a tip underneath a heavy human body is similar to burrowing into soil. Some “ringed worms” evert their internal organs to act like a wedge, traveling through sediment by crack propagation. This marine worm’s eversion mechanism has been realized with a soft robotic device consisting of a double-layered tubular sheet. As pressurized air is supplied to the tubular sheet, the tip extends and goes underneath a human body. The tubular sheet can have a high tensile strength to lift the body. This project will establish the soft extendable belt technology for holding and lifting a human and develop a functional prototype for safe, gentle, and autonomous transfer of older adults.Successful deployment of support equipment cannot be achieved by advanced design alone. Product development methodologies will be applied to obtain feedback from end users throughout the project, and strategies will be established for effectively deploying the technology and removing barriers for adoption. Particularly important is engagement and guidance of the users, so that they can use the equipment easily and safely. This project will apply a Large Language Model and human-robot interaction methods to enhance user engagement and guidance. This project will work closely with care professionals at nursing facilities. Data of conversations and physical interactions between older adults and caregivers, as well as with the care robot, will be acquired and used for generating an AI-based user guidance and interaction system.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.