NSF Convergence Accelerator, Track M: TANDEM: Tensegrity-based Assistive aND rehabilitation Exosuits to complement human bioMechanics

该项目将开发生物启发的机器人，与人体生物力学协同工作，以增强，协助和康复。由此产生的技术将通过不压倒用户运动来增加舒适度和效率运动。它将用于增强力量，辅助运动，刺激康复，同时减少肌肉的努力，疼痛和职业伤害的机会。在社会经济方面，它将对25%的美国人口产生直接影响，即，患有慢性肌肉骨骼疼痛的成年人。这将为那些经历背部和肩部疼痛等肌肉骨骼疾病的人带来更好的生活质量，并预防和帮助与工作有关的肌肉骨骼损伤，目前该国花费约1640亿美元。这项技术在医疗保健和农业等尚未开发的领域的应用将直接影响这些领域的人力资源短缺。教育和劳动力发展活动将有助于扩大有关工人健康和安全的知识，以及外骨骼和外骨骼服作为辅助设备的使用。外骨骼服的设计将从人体脊柱和关节中汲取灵感，并利用张拉整体原理。鉴于张拉整体原理也是人类肌肉骨骼系统的建筑基础，它们的使用允许模仿人类生物力学。该项目将设计和模型技术组成的可磨损外部张拉整体加固脊柱（WExTeR Spine）和Tensegrity Shoulder Exosuit for Shoulder Abduction（TeSSA），通过反馈和特定任务的实验，研究这些技术对确定的最终用户的适应和采用，并组织员工培训，该奖项反映了NSF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。

The project will develop bio-inspired exosuits that work in tandem with human biomechanics to augment, assist and rehabilitate. The resulting technology will increase comfort and efficiency motion by not overpowering user motion. It will be used to enhance strength, assist movements, and stimulate rehabilitation while reducing muscular effort, pain, and the chance of occupational injuries. Socio-economically, it will have direct impact on 25% of U.S. population, i.e., adults suffering from chronic musculoskeletal pain. This will lead to better quality of life for those experiencing musculoskeletal disorders such as back and shoulder pain, and prevention of, and assistance with work-related musculoskeletal injuries that currently cost the nation ca $164Bn. The application of this technology in underexplored fields like healthcare and agriculture will have direct impact on shortage of human resources in these fields. The education and workforce development activities will help in broadening the outreach of knowledge about worker health and safety, and use of exoskeletons and exosuits as assistive devices.The design of exosuit will take inspiration from human spine and joints, and leverage principles of tensegrity. Given that tensegrity principles are also the architectural basis for human musculoskeletal system, their use allows for mimicking human biomechanics. The project will design and model technology comprising of Wearable External Tensegrity Reinforcement Spine (WExTeR Spine) and Tensegrity Shoulder exosuit for Shoulder Abduction (TeSSA) with tunable stiffness, sensor feedback and actuation, investigate the adaptation and adoption of these technology for identified end users through feedback and task-specific experiments, and organize workforce training, outreach activities and workshops for public dissemination of the technology.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.