How do Passive Exoskeletons influence Human Balance Control in in simulated Real-World environments?

尽管技术取得了重大进步，但由于无法研究外骨骼在影响平衡、平衡恢复和促进不稳定运动的真实条件和危险中的有效性，外骨骼的研究一直受到阻碍。这类情况包括站在行驶中的公共交通工具上或在不平坦/不稳定的地形上行走时所感受到的震动。目前的研究使用了站立平衡任务，当参与者在实验室的跑步机上行走时，使用了意想不到的颠簸或滑行般的扰动，因为它们为测试提供了一个既定的模型。然而，这些条件在生态上是不成立的。EPSRC资助的项目(EP/P020690/1)VSimator通过复制真实世界的条件提供了这一领域的进步。VSimator是一个3.7m x 3.7m的测力板阵列，位于运动平台上，具有六个移动自由度，可以实现不受限制的移动和脚下扰动，可以用来测试平衡和平衡恢复(vsimators.co.uk)。该系统包括运动捕捉技术、身临其境的虚拟现实，能够更好地研究在生态有效环境下人体对扰动的反应的变化。因此，该项目还将致力于研究人类神经肌肉对佩戴脚踝外骨骼的适应性，在生态上逼真的VSimator平台扰动下执行的平衡实验中，以及在身临其境的虚拟现实场景中

Despite significant advancements in technology, research regarding exoskeletons has been hindered due to an inability to study their effectiveness in real-world conditions and hazards that affect balance, balance recovery, and promote unstable movement. Such scenarios include vibrations experienced whilst standing on moving public transport or walking on uneven/unsteady terrain. Current studies have used standing balance tasks and unexpected jolts or slip-like perturbations whilst a participant walks on a treadmill in a laboratory, as they provide an established model for testing. However, these conditions are not ecologically valid. The VSimulator, an EPSRC funded project (EP/P020690/1), offers advances in this area by replicating real-world conditions. The VSimulator is a 3.7m by 3.7m force plate array on a motion platform with six degrees of freedom of movement that enables unconstrained movement and underfoot perturbations with which balance and balance recovery can be tested (vsimulators.co.uk). The system includes motion capture technology, immersive virtual reality, enabling better investigation of the changes in the body's response to perturbation under ecologically valid environments. Therefore, this project will also aim to investigate human neuromuscular adaptations to wearing an ankle exoskeleton during balance experiments performed with the ecologically realistic VSimulator platform perturbations, and in immersive virtual reality scenarios