Researchers developed a new approach in which robotic exosuit assistance can be calibrated to an individual and adapt to a variety of real-world walking tasks.
Credit: Biodesign Lab, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science at Harvard University
Ultrasound measurements of muscle dynamics provide customized, activity-specific assistance
People rarely walk at a constant speed and a single incline. We change speed when rushing to the next appointment, catching a crosswalk signal, or going for a casual stroll in the park. Slopes change all the time too, whether we’re going for a hike or up a ramp into a building. In addition to environmental variably, how we walk is influenced by sex, height, age, and muscle strength, and sometimes by neural or muscular disorders such as stroke or Parkinson’s Disease.
This human and task variability is a major challenge in designing wearable robotics to assist or augment walking in real-world conditions. To date, customizing wearable robotic assistance to an individual’s walking requires hours of manual or automatic tuning — a tedious task for healthy individuals and often impossible for older adults or clinical patients.
Now, researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have developed a new approach in which robotic exosuit assistance can be calibrated to an individual and adapt to a variety of real-world walking tasks in a matter of seconds. The bioinspired system uses ultrasound measurements of muscle dynamics to develop a personalized and activity-specific assistance profile for users of the exosuit.
“Our muscle-based approach enables relatively rapid generation of individualized assistance profiles that provide real benefit to the person walking,” said Robert D. Howe, Ph.D., the Abbott and James Lawrence Professor of Engineering, and co-author of the paper.
The research is published in Science Robotics.
Previous bioinspired attempts at developing individualized assistance profiles for robotic exosuits focused on the dynamic movements of the limbs of the wearer. The SEAS researchers took a different approach. The research was a collaboration between Howe’s Harvard Biorobotics Laboratory, which has extensive experience in ultrasound imaging and real-time image processing, and the Harvard Biodesign Lab, run by Conor J. Walsh, Ph.D., Associate Faculty member at the Wyss Institute, and the Paul A. Maeder Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences at SEAS, which develops soft wearable robots for augmenting and restoring human performance.
“We used ultrasound to look under the skin and directly measured what the user’s muscles were doing during several walking tasks,” said Richard Nuckols, Ph.D., a Postdoctoral Research Associate at SEAS and the Wyss Institute and co-first author of the paper. “Our muscles and tendons have compliance which means there is not necessarily a direct mapping between the movement of the limbs and that of the underlying muscles driving their motion.”
The research team strapped a portable ultrasound system to the calves of participants and imaged their muscles as they performed a series of walking tasks.
“From these pre-recorded images, we estimated the assistive force to be applied in parallel with the calf muscles to offset the additional work they need to perform during the push off phase of the walking cycle,” said co-first author Krithika Swaminathan, , who worked on Walsh’s team at SEAS and the Wyss Institute, and is a graduate student at SEAS and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS).
The new system only needs a few seconds of walking, even one stride may be sufficient, to capture the muscle’s profile.
This video describes how ultrasound measurements of calf muscle activity are used to personalize soft exosuit performance in individual users.
Credit: Biodesign Lab, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science at Harvard University
For each of the ultrasound-generated profiles, the researchers then measured how much metabolic energy the person used during walking with and without the exosuit. They found that the muscle-based assistance provided by the exosuit significantly reduced the metabolic energy of walking across a range of walking speeds and inclines.
The exosuit also applied lower assistance force to achieve the same or improved metabolic energy benefit than previous published studies.
“By measuring the muscle directly, we can work more intuitively with the person using the exosuit,” said Sangjun Lee, a graduate student at SEAS and GSAS and co-first author of the study. “With this approach, the exosuit isn’t overpowering the wearer, it’s working cooperatively with them.”
When tested in real-world situations, the exosuit was able to quickly adapt to changes in walking speed and incline.
This approach may help support the adoption of wearable robotics in real-world, dynamic situations by enabling comfortable, tailored, and adaptive assistance.
CONOR WALSH
Next, the research team aims to test the system making constant, real-time adjustments.
“This approach may help support the adoption of wearable robotics in real-world, dynamic situations by enabling comfortable, tailored, and adaptive assistance,” said Walsh, the senior author of the paper.
Original Article: A personalized exosuit for real-world walking
More from: Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences | Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Personalized exosuit
- Major Exoprimal Update Adds New Modes, Suits, Mega Man Collab, and More Today
Prepare to lean in! Exoprimal™ summons Title Update 4 today. The latest free content expansion for Capcom’s dino-blasting action game introduces two new modes, expands the roster of playable Exosuit ...
- Exoprimal Just Leveled Up: Dive Into Title Update 4 with New Modes, Mega Man Mashup, and More
Ready, Gamers? Exoprimal's Latest Expansion Is Here! Hey, fellow dino slayers! Gear up and dive headfirst into the chaos as Capcom drops the bomb with Exoprimal’s Title Update 4, rolling out a horde ...
- Exoprimal Season 4 Kicks Off With Update 1.40; Read The Full Patch Notes Here
Exoprimal Season 4 is here! Find out what's new for the game via the Exoprimal update 1.40 patch notes from Capcom.
- Exoprimal Update 1.40 Released for Season 4 This April 17
Capcom has released Exoprimal update 1.40 (PS5 update version 1.004), and this brings in a special Mega Man collaboration. Here is the info!
- 'Exoprimal' Season 4 Sees Mega Man Collab, New Modes, Exosuit Variants, More April 17
Publisher CAPCOM announced that their dino-crushing PvEvP title ‘Exoprimal’ will get its fourth update title on the 17th of April across all platforms. Exoprimal Season 4 will feature a Mega Man ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Personalized exosuit
[google_news title=”” keyword=”personalized exosuit” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Robotic exosuit
- robotic joint
The convergence of mechanics and electronics in robotics brings with it a lot of challenges. Thanks to 3D printing and low cost components, it’s possible to quickly and easily experiment with a ...
- Best Robot Vacuums for 2024
We've picked out the best robot vacuums after putting them through extensive testing methodologies we've fine-tuned over the years. Originally hailing from Troy, Ohio, Ry Crist is a writer ...
- Best deals on robot vacuums ahead of Memorial Day
Promotions are subject to availability and retailer terms. The only catch? Robot vacuums are pricey. The best way to cut down on the expense is to buy one ahead of Memorial Day. Knowing that robot ...
- Rise Robotics a 'game changer' for flat belt drive systems
Rise Robotics is making limited licenses available for a patent that it says "unlocks new possibilities" for angular flat belt drive systems.
- Boston Dynamics unveils an all-electric version of its Atlas robot
When Boston Dynamics announced on Tuesday it was retiring the hydraulic version of Atlas, there were a few hints that the company wasn't done with humanoid robots entirely. Sure enough, one day later, ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Robotic exosuit
[google_news title=”” keyword=”robotic exosuit” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]