How do Passive Exoskeletons influence Human Balance Control in in simulated Real-World environments?

尽管技术取得了重大进步，但由于无法研究外骨骼在现实世界条件下的有效性以及影响平衡、平衡恢复和促进不稳定运动的危害，外骨骼的研究一直受到阻碍。这些场景包括站在移动的公共交通工具上或在不平坦/不稳定的地形上行走时所经历的振动。目前的研究使用站立平衡任务和意想不到的颠簸或滑样扰动，当参与者在实验室的跑步机上行走时，因为它们提供了一个既定的测试模型。然而，这些条件在生态学上是无效的。VSimulator是EPSRC资助的项目（EP/P020690/1），通过复制现实世界的条件，在这一领域取得了进展。VSimulator是一个3.7米× 3.7米的力板阵列，安装在一个运动平台上，具有六个自由度的运动，可以实现不受约束的运动和脚下的扰动，可以测试平衡和平衡恢复（VSimulator .co.uk）。该系统包括动作捕捉技术，沉浸式虚拟现实，能够更好地研究在生态有效环境下身体对扰动的反应变化。因此，该项目还将在生态逼真的VSimulator平台扰动和沉浸式虚拟现实场景中进行平衡实验时，研究人类神经肌肉对佩戴脚踝外骨骼的适应性

Despite significant advancements in technology, research regarding exoskeletons has been hindered due to an inability to study their effectiveness in real-world conditions and hazards that affect balance, balance recovery, and promote unstable movement. Such scenarios include vibrations experienced whilst standing on moving public transport or walking on uneven/unsteady terrain. Current studies have used standing balance tasks and unexpected jolts or slip-like perturbations whilst a participant walks on a treadmill in a laboratory, as they provide an established model for testing. However, these conditions are not ecologically valid. The VSimulator, an EPSRC funded project (EP/P020690/1), offers advances in this area by replicating real-world conditions. The VSimulator is a 3.7m by 3.7m force plate array on a motion platform with six degrees of freedom of movement that enables unconstrained movement and underfoot perturbations with which balance and balance recovery can be tested (vsimulators.co.uk). The system includes motion capture technology, immersive virtual reality, enabling better investigation of the changes in the body's response to perturbation under ecologically valid environments. Therefore, this project will also aim to investigate human neuromuscular adaptations to wearing an ankle exoskeleton during balance experiments performed with the ecologically realistic VSimulator platform perturbations, and in immersive virtual reality scenarios