STTR Phase I: Robotic Leg Advancement Device

这项小型企业技术转移研究（STTR）第一阶段项目旨在开发一种新颖的智能设备，用于在接受物理治疗和康复的神经系统患者群体中进行自动化步态训练。这个项目的目标是创造一个物理上简单的机器人系统，它使用一个复杂的控制系统来智能地配合物理治疗师进行步态训练，使这个过程部分自动化。该系统的发展可能会导致步态训练和物理治疗的新范式的创建。这种设备将有潜力极大地提高物理治疗师进行强化步态再训练的能力，这反过来又可能导致每年成千上万患者的行动能力得到改善。现有的步态训练自动化技术解决方案过于复杂和昂贵，市场渗透率很低，因此很少有患者从中受益。在这个项目中，创造一种廉价设备的可行性将与物理治疗师在步态训练中合作。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力源于提高步态训练的经济性和结果的可能性。目前的步态康复方法依赖于体力劳动。治疗通常由2或3名PTs同时进行，这是非常昂贵的。我们提出的产品将使治疗各种神经系统疾病的患者更具成本效益，包括每年可从步态治疗中受益的约35万中风患者。我们估计该产品的潜在市场规模约为3600万美元，但该设备也可能在未来引领简单机器人消费产品的发展。

This Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase I project seeks to develop a novel, intelligent device for automation of gait training in the neurological patient population undergoing physical therapy and rehabilitation. The objective of this project is the creation of a physically simple robotic system, which uses a sophisticated control system to intelligently cooperate with the physical therapist administering gait training, to partially automate the process. The development of this system may lead to the creation of a new paradigm in gait training and physical therapy. This device will have the potential to greatly enhance the abilities of physical therapists to administer intensive gait retraining, and this in turn may lead to improved mobility in hundreds of thousands of patients every year. The existing technological solutions to automation of gait training are overly complex and costly, with very low market penetration, and as a result few patients benefit from them. During this project, the feasibility of creating an inexpensive device which will cooperate with the physical therapists in gait training will be demonstrated.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project stems from the possibility of enhancing both the economics and the outcomes of gait training. Current gait rehabilitation methods rely on manual labor. Therapy is often administered by 2 or 3 PTs at the same time, which is very costly. Our proposed product will make it more cost-effective to treat patients with a variety of neurological disorders, including some 350,000 stroke patients who could benefit from gait therapy every year. We estimate the size of the addressable market for the proposed product to be about $36 million, but this device may also lead do the development of simple robotic consumer products in the future.