EAGER: Wearable Nanofabrication Designs Create Better Fitting Intelligent Prosthetic Sockets

在过去的几十年里，通过新的材料和技术，如靶向肌肉神经再支配、动力膝关节和踝关节假体，见证了假体领域的巨大进步。然而，残肢软组织与假体承窝之间的非自然力学相互作用所产生的生物力学载荷仍未完全了解，有待于进一步研究。这项跨学科的研究项目将创造新的感知和计算方法，使知识发现能够更好地满足假体装配质量，目标是在实践中提高截肢患者假肢的设计、适配性、可用性和界面。本项目的目标是通过开发无线传感设备和力可视化系统来研究残肢和插座之间的力分布。这项提议探索了一种使用独特的三维纳米墙网络结构的精确力传感设计，允许在灵活的平台上制造坚固的传感器阵列，用于定量测量压力和剪切力。这项跨学科的研究项目包括传感器材料合成、器件制造、树桩-插座接口应用的平台和信号处理单元设计，以及基于机器学习的信息分析影响舒适贴合感的解决方案。拟议的研究是多学科的，汇集了数字设计和测试、人机界面、传感器和信号处理等领域，并将移动传感和健康技术的影响扩展到假肢研究。凯斯西储大学和克利夫兰退伍军人事务医疗中心的研究人员和学生组成的团队将开展这一合作项目。建议的解决方案有望帮助修复师设计更好的装置，并使安装过程方便和直接。参与该项目的学生将接受多个学科的培训。

The past decades have witnessed great progress in the prosthetics field through new materials and technologies such as targeted muscle reinnervation, powered knee, and ankle prosthesis. However, the biomechanical load due to the unnatural mechanical interaction between the soft tissues of the residual limb and the prosthetic socket is still not fully understood and needs to be further investigated. This interdisciplinary research project will create new sensing and computational methods enabling knowledge discovery for better prosthesis fitting quality with the goal of enhancing the design, fit, usability, and interface of prosthetic limbs for individuals with amputation in practice.The objective of this project is to investigate force distribution between the stump and socket by developing a wireless sensing device and a force visualization system. This proposal explores an accurate force-sensing design using a unique three-dimensional nanowall network structure, which allows the fabrication of a robust sensor array on a flexible platform for quantitative pressure and shear force measurement. This interdisciplinary research project consists of sensor material synthesis, device fabrication, platform and signal processing unit design for the stump-socket interface application, and a machine learning-based solution to analyze the information that affects the sense of comfortable fit. The proposed research is multidisciplinary, bringing together the fields of digital design and test, human machine interface, sensors, and signal processing and extending the impact of mobile sensing and health technology to the prosthetics research. A team of investigators and students from Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center with complementary expertise will carry out this collaborative project. The proposed solution is expected to help prosthetists to design better devices and make the fitting procedure convenient and straightforward. Students working on the project will receive training across multiple disciplines.