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护理危机。劳动力严重短缺，再加上与老年护理相关的高昂成本，迫使养老院关闭或提供不合格的护理。此外，超过70万老年人在等待各州提供的医疗补助家庭和社区服务。除了专业的照顾外，照顾的责任通常落在家人、亲戚和朋友身上。在美国，超过5300万私人照顾者正在承受照顾老年人的巨大身体、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照顾者提供费力甚至危险的行动支助。例如，将老年人从床上转移到轮椅上是一项令人疲惫、繁重的任务，会导致许多照顾者背部受伤。一种由柔和而坚固的机械腰带组成的简单易用的系统，可以放在老年人的背部下面，抬起他们的身体，可以安全地将他们转移到轮椅上。不需要打电话给护理员。老年人可以自己起床，更独立地生活。特殊的腰带设计灵感来自于具有柔软生长附属物的生物物种，如海洋蠕虫和攀缘叶片。在沉重的人体下伸展尖端类似于在土壤中挖洞。一些“环状蠕虫”把它们的内脏弄得像一个楔子，通过裂缝扩展在沉积物中传播。这种海洋蠕虫的外翻机构是用双层管板组成的软机器人装置实现的。当加压空气被提供给管板时，尖端延伸并进入人体下方。管板可以具有高的抗拉强度来提升主体。该项目将建立支撑和提升人体的软可伸缩腰带技术，并开发安全、温和、自主的老年人转移功能原型。仅靠先进的设计是无法成功部署支撑设备的。将在整个项目中应用产品开发方法以获得最终用户的反馈，并将制定有效部署技术和消除采用障碍的战略。尤其重要的是用户的参与和指导，使他们能够轻松和安全地使用设备。该项目将应用大型语言模型和人-机器人交互方法来加强用户参与和指导。该项目将与护理机构的护理专业人员密切合作。将获得老年人与照顾者以及与护理机器人之间的对话和身体互动的数据，并将其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 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.