I-Corps: Patient Leg-Powered Wheelchair Mobility to Promote Wellness

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力源于机器人技术的创新，这些创新应用于美国1700多万不同年龄的与行走有关的残疾人的健康需求。一种名为步态康复自适应机器的创新轮椅附件引导用户的腿部进行治疗性行走运动，并驱动轮椅。这将治疗转化为椅子的运动，让患者有机会以一种引人注目的方式进行自己的康复，所有这些都是在安全的坐姿上进行的。自然腿部运动的支持，而不需要额外的负荷和平衡，促进肌肉张力和血液循环，这对器官健康至关重要。与活动的联系促进了患者的参与、健康、独立和幸福。该系统通过仪器监控日常性能。这扩大了治疗师的范围，以帮助从运动损伤，中风和事故中恢复。它还为老年人和行走障碍者提供基本的活动能力，促进腿部运动和锻炼，并可以在长途航空航班等密闭空间提供宝贵的腿部锻炼。这个I-Corps项目探索了计算机辅助发明的新能力所带来的机器人技术的商业化。考虑到患者足部和腿部自然运动的要求，通过对数百万种替代方案的评估和优化，计算出了一个引导这种运动的铰接六杆联动骨架，并提供了一个有效的机械系统。结果是低成本的多功能轮椅附件，连接到病人的腿，并引导他们通过治疗步行运动。这种运动与轮椅的驱动轮耦合，并将其治疗转化为日常生活所需的椅子运动（向前，向后和转身）。机动性促进了治疗运动的增加，从而提高了治疗效果。计算机辅助发明的技术也确保了六杆骨架可以匹配不同尺寸的个人用户的具体需求，并调整以提供专门的康复需求。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project derives from robotics innovations that are applied to the health needs of over 17 million individuals in the United States of all ages who have walking related disabilities. An innovative wheelchair attachment called Gait Rehab Adaptive Machine guides the user's legs through a therapeutic walking movement and drives the wheelchair. This converts therapy into movement of the chair to give patients the opportunity to work on their own rehabilitation in a compelling way, all from a safely seated position. The support of natural leg movement without the additional demand of load bearing and balance promotes muscle tone and blood circulation that are critical to organ health. The connection to mobility promotes patient involvement, fitness, independence and well-being. The system is instrumented to monitor daily performance. This extends the reach of therapists to assist recovery from sports injuries, strokes and accidents. It also provides basic mobility for the elderly and walking disabled that promotes leg movement and exercise and it can provide valuable leg exercise in confined spaces such as during long distance airline flights.This I-Corps project explores commercialization of robotics technology that has resulted from new capabilities in computer-aided invention. Given the requirements of the natural movement of the foot and leg of a patient, an articulated six-bar linkage skeleton that guides this movement was computed by evaluation of millions of alternatives and optimized to provide an effective mechanical system. The result is low-cost versatile wheelchair attachment that connects to a patients legs and guides them through a therapeutic walking movement. This movement is coupled to the drive wheels of the wheelchair and converts their therapy into movement of the chair in all ways needed for daily life (forwards, backwards, and turning). Mobility motivates increased therapeutic movement which increases its effectiveness. The technology of computer-aided invention also ensures that the six-bar skeleton can be matched to the specific needs of individual users of various sizes as well as adjusted to provide specialized rehabilitation needs.