A wearable biofeedback system for prosthetic mobility

该项目的目标是开发一种新的可穿戴生物反馈系统。该系统将被内置到下肢截肢者的假肢中，以增强他们现有的感觉反馈，并改善整体平衡和灵活性。目前还不存在这样的商业可用的系统。工业合作伙伴(Össur)和申请人的研究实验室已经开展了开发可穿戴式生物反馈系统原型的初步工作，包括描述用户对生物反馈信号的反应。然而，许多重大的科学和工程挑战仍然阻碍着生物反馈系统的发展，并将通过拟议的研究加以解决。实现可穿戴生物反馈设备的核心挑战在于开发算法，将系统的多个感觉输入映射到可被截肢者有效利用的刺激，以改善他们的平衡和灵活性。工作范围将包括构建系统硬件(即传感器组、处理器、刺激器)，以及将传感器输入映射到施加给用户的振动触觉刺激的算法。实验测试和生物力学模型将被用来为生物反馈系统的发展提供信息，并确定提供最有效刺激的最佳反馈机制。拟议中的合作项目确立了加拿大在可穿戴系统新兴领域的学术和行业领先地位，这是联邦科学和技术议程中的关键研究优先事项。它还提供了一个强大的商业机会，其成果将由行业合作伙伴奥苏尔和多伦多大学分享。虽然这个项目是针对截肢者的，但预计我们的研究结果可以外推到其他行动不便的患者群体中。

The goal of this project is to develop a new wearable biofeedback system. The system will be built into the prosthesis of lower limb amputees to augment their existing sensory feedback and improve overall balance and mobility. Currently no such commercially available system exists. Initial work in the development of a prototype wearable biofeedback system has been conducted by both the industrial partner (Össur) and the applicant's research lab, including the characterization of user responses to biofeedback signals. However, a number of substantial scientific and engineering challenges remain that inhibit the development of a biofeedback system, and will be addressed by the proposed research. The central challenge in realizing a wearable biofeedback device lies in the development of algorithms that will map the multiple sensory inputs of the system to stimuli that can be effectively utilized by the amputee to improve their balance and mobility. The scope of the work will include constructing the system hardware (i.e. sensor set, processor, stimulators), and the algorithms for mapping the sensor inputs to the vibrotactile stimuli applied to the user. Empirical testing and biomechanical models will be utilized to inform the development of the biofeedback system, and determine the optimum feedback mechanisms to provide the most effective stimuli. The proposed collaborative project asserts Canada's academic and industrial leadership in the emerging area of wearable systems, under the key research priority of "Science and Technology" within the federal Science and Technology agenda. It also provides a strong commercial opportunity the outcomes which will be shared by the industry partner Össur and the University of Toronto. While this project is directed at amputees, it is expected that our research findings can be extrapolated to apply to other patient populations with mobility impairments