NRI: Wearable eMbots to Induce Recovery of Function

描述（由申请人提供）： 在美国，每年有超过750，000例新发或复发性中风。这些中风幸存者中有很大一部分表现出手臂功能的丧失，这显著影响了他们独立进行日常生活活动的能力。恢复中风后失去的肢体功能需要治疗-通常是大量的监督康复治疗，从诊所开始，但理想的是延伸到家庭。机器人技术提供了一种很有前途的手段来提供这种治疗，但在人机界面，机械设计和机器人促进干预的新方法是必要的。需要一种足够舒适、轻便和便携的设备，便于在日常任务中使用主动肢体，并使患者处于控制之中。对于可穿戴设备来说，这是一个相当大的设计挑战，因为强大到足以取代失去的肌肉功能的马达太重了，无法穿戴。在这项应用中，PI建议开发一种基于传动装置而不是电机的新型安全可穿戴外骨骼（称为eMbots），并测试其在恢复中风幸存者手臂功能方面的可行性。他们通过追求以下具体目标来实现这一总体目标：（目标1）设计和制造带肩关节驱动的肘腕矫形器（EWOKS）液压装置并确定其机械性能。(Aim 2）通过进行一系列生物力学测试，确定eMbots对佩戴者的生理影响。生理学评价将涉及健康受试者和运动受损卒中受试者。所有人类参与实验将与正在进行的设备开发并行进行，并将根据实验结果不断改进设计。(Aim 3）通过对15名脑卒中幸存者（10名慢性和5名亚急性）进行为期6周的干预训练，研究eMbots诱导脑卒中后功能恢复的有效性。将进行一系列常规临床测量的术前、术后和随访试验（3个月），以评价器械有效性。拟议的应用有可能通过提供一类新的可穿戴机器人来改变机器人康复，这不仅可能使中风幸存者受益，而且还可能使患有其他神经损伤的人受益。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): More than 750,000 new or recurrent strokes occur each year in the United States. A large proportion of these Stroke survivors exhibit loss of arm function, which significantly affects thei ability to independently carry out activities of daily living. Recovering lost limb function after stroke requires therapy-often extensive amounts of supervised rehabilitation therapy that starts in the clinic but ideally extends into the home. Robotics offers a promising means to deliver such therapy, but new approaches in human-machine interface, mechanical design, and robot-facilitated interventions are needed. A sufficiently comfortable, lightweight, and portable device is required that facilitates active limb use in everyday tasks and puts the patient in control. Thee are considerable design challenges for a wearable device because motors powerful enough to replace lost muscle function are too heavy to be wearable. In this application, the PIs propose to develop a new class of safe wearable exoskeleton (called eMbots) based on transmissions rather than motors and test its feasibility in restoring arm function in stroke survivors. They see to achieve this overall goal by pursuing the following Specific Aims: (Aim 1) To design and fabricate an Elbow Wrist OrthotiK with Shoulder drive (EWOKS) hydraulic device and establish its mechanical performance. (Aim 2) To establish the physiological effects of eMbots on their wearers by performing a series of biomechanical tests. The physiological evaluations will involve both healthy subjects and motor impaired stroke subjects. All human participant experiments will be conducted in parallel with ongoing device development and designs will be continually improved based on experiment results. (Aim 3) To investigate the efficacy of eMbots to induce recovery of function after stroke by performing a 6-week intervention training in 15 stroke survivors (10 chronic and 5 sub-acute). A series of pre-, post-, and follow-up tests (3 months) of customary clinical measures will be performed to evaluate device efficacy. The proposed application has the potential to transform robotic rehabilitation by providing a new class of wearable robot that may not only benefit stroke survivors, but also individuals suffering from other neurological injuries.