Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 32759
An Inflatable and Foldable Knee Exosuit Based on Intelligent Management of Biomechanical Energy

Authors: Jing Fang, Yao Cui, Mingming Wang, Shengli She, Jianping Yuan

Abstract:

Wearable robotics is a potential solution in aiding gait rehabilitation of lower limbs dyskinesia patients, such as knee osteoarthritis or stroke afflicted patients. Many wearable robots have been developed in the form of rigid exoskeletons, but their bulk devices, high cost and control complexity hinder their popularity in the field of gait rehabilitation. Thus, the development of a portable, compliant and low-cost wearable robot for gait rehabilitation is necessary. Inspired by Chinese traditional folding fans and balloon inflators, the authors present an inflatable, foldable and variable stiffness knee exosuit (IFVSKE) in this paper. The pneumatic actuator of IFVSKE was fabricated in the shape of folding fans by using thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) fabric materials. The geometric and mechanical properties of IFVSKE were characterized with experimental methods. To assist the knee joint smartly, an intelligent control profile for IFVSKE was proposed based on the concept of full-cycle energy management of the biomechanical energy during human movement. The biomechanical energy of knee joints in a walking gait cycle of patients could be collected and released to assist the joint motion just by adjusting the inner pressure of IFVSKE. Finally, a healthy subject was involved to walk with and without the IFVSKE to evaluate the assisting effects.

Keywords: Biomechanical energy management, gait rehabilitation, knee exosuit, wearable robotics.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1474841

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1071

References:


[1] Plummer, P., Behrman, A. L., Duncan, P. W., Spigel, P., Saracino, D., Martin, J., et al., “Effects of stroke severity and training duration on locomotor recovery after stroke: a pilot study,” Neurorehabilitation & Neural Repair, 21 (2), 137–151,2007.
[2] Thompson, J. A., Chaudhari, A. M., Schmitt, L. C., Best, T. M., and Siston, R. A., “Gluteus maximus and soleus compensate for simulated quadriceps atrophy and activation failure during walking,” Journal of Biomechanics. 46 (13), 2165–2172, 2013.
[3] Harris, M. L., Polkey, M. I., Bath, P. M., and Moxham, J., “Quadriceps muscle weakness following acute hemiplegic stroke,” Clinical Rehabilitation. 15 (3), 274–281, 2001.
[4] Hamrin, E., Eklund, G., Hillgren, A. K., Borges, O., Hall, J., and Hellström, O. “Muscle strength and balance in post-stroke patients,” Upsala Journal of Medical Sciences. 87 (1), 11–26,1982.
[5] M. Blagojevic, C. Jinks, A. Jeffery, K.P. Jordan, “Risk factors for onset of osteoarthritis of the knee in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, 18(1), 24-33, 2010.
[6] Stig Heir, Tor K. Nerhus, Jan H. Røtterud, Sverre Løken, Arne Ekeland, Lars Engebretsen, and Asbjørn Årøen, “Focal Cartilage Defects in the Knee Impair Quality of Life as Much as Severe Osteoarthritis: A Comparison of Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score in 4 Patient Categories Scheduled for Knee Surgery,” The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 38(2), 231 – 237,2009.
[7] Norazam Aliman, Rizauddin Ramli, Sallehuddin Mohamed Haris, “Design and development of lower limb exoskeletons: A survey,” Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 95, 102-116, 2017.
[8] Dollar A M, Herr H. Lower Extremity Exoskeletons and Active Orthoses: Challenges and State-of-the-Art(J). IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 2008, 24(1):144-158.
[9] Elliott G, Marecki A, Herr H. “Design of a Clutch–Spring Knee Exoskeleton for Running,” Journal of Medical Devices, 8(3), 2014.
[10] Rogers E., Polygerinos P., Allen S., Panizzolo F.A., Walsh C.J., Holland D.P. (2017) “A Quasi-Passive Knee Exoskeleton to Assist During Descent,” Biosystems & Biorobotics, vol 16. Springer, Cham, 2017.
[11] Karavas N.C., Tsagarakis N.G., Saglia J., Galdwell D.G. (2012) “A Novel Actuator with Reconfigurable Stiffness for a Knee Exoskeleton: Design and Modeling,” Advances in Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots ,2012.
[12] Godwin, K. M., Wasserman, J., and Ostwald, S. K. “Cost associated with stroke: outpatient rehabilitative services and medication,” Stroke Rehabilitation. 18 (supplement 1), 676–84, 2011.
[13] Donelan J M, Li Q, Naing V, et al. “Biomechanical energy harvesting: generating electricity during walking with minimal user effort,” Science, 319(5864):807-810, 2008.
[14] Riemer R, Shapiro A. “Biomechanical energy harvesting from human motion: theory, state of the art, design guidelines, and future directions,” Journal of Neuro Engineering and Rehabilitation, 8, 1, 8(1):22-22, 2011.
[15] Rome L C, Flynn L, Goldman E M, et al. “Generating Electricity While Walking with Loads,” Science, 2005, 309(5741):1725-1728, 2005.
[16] Gonzalez. J L, Rubio A, Moll F. “Human Powered Piezoelectric Batteries to Supply Power to Wearable Electronic Devices,” International Journal of the Society of Materials Engineering for Resources, 10(1):34-40, 2010.
[17] Farrell C P, Mercogliano G, Kuntz C L. “Design and Optimization of a Biomechanical Energy Harvesting Device,” Power Electronics Specialists Conference Pesc. IEEE, 2008:4062-4069, 2008.
[18] Hayashida, Yukio J. “Unobtrusive integration of magnetic generator systems into common footwear,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000.
[19] Rus D, Tolley M T. “Design, fabrication and control of soft robots,” Nature, 521(7553):467,2015.
[20] Polygerinos P, Correll N, Morin S A, et al. “Soft Robotics: Review of Fluid-Driven Intrinsically Soft Devices; Manufacturing, Sensing, Control, and Applications in Human-Robot Interaction,” Advanced Engineering Materials, 19(12), 2017.
[21] Jaronie Mohd Jani, Martin Leary, Aleksandar Subic, Mark A. Gibson, “A review of shape memory alloy research, applications and opportunities,” Materials & Design (1980-2015), 56, 1078-1113, 2014.
[22] Yoseph Bar-Cohen. "Electroactive Polymers as Artificial Muscles: A Review", Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, 39, 6, 822-827, 2002.
[23] B. T. Quinlivan, S. Lee, P. Malcolm, D. M. Rossi, M. Grimmer, C. Siviy, N. Karavas, D. Wagner, A. Asbeck, I. Galiana, C. J. Walsh, “Assistance magnitude vs. metabolic cost reductions for a tethered multiarticular soft exosuit,” Science Robotics, 2, eaah4416, 2017.
[24] Ye Ding, Myunghee Kim, Scott Kuindersma, and Conor J. Walsh, “Human-in-the-loop optimization of hip assistance with a soft exosuit during walking,” Science Robotics, 3, eaah5438, 2018.
[25] L. N. Awad, J. Bae, K. O’Donnell, S. M. M. De Rossi, K. Hendron, L. H. Sloot, P. Kudzia, S. Allen, K. G. Holt, T. D. Ellis, C. J. Walsh, “A soft robotic exosuit improves walking in patients after stroke,” Science Translational Medicine. 9, eaai9084, 2017.
[26] T.-J. Yeh, Meng-Je Wu, Ting-Jiang Lu, Feng-Kuang Wu, Chih-Ren Huang, “Control of McKibben pneumatic muscles for a power-assist, lower-limb orthosis,” Mechatronics, 20, 6, 686-697, 2010.
[27] R. F. Natividad and C. H. Yeow, “Development of a Soft Robotic Shoulder Assistive Device for Shoulder Abduction,” 6th IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob), 989-993, 2016.
[28] O'Neill CT, Phipps NS, Cappello L, Paganoni S, Walsh CJ. “A soft wearable robot for the shoulder: Design, characterization, and preliminary testing,” IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robot, July, 1672-1678, 2017.
[29] Sridar, S., Nguyen, PH., Zhu, M., Lam, QP., and Polygerinos, P. “Development of a soft-inflatable exosuit for knee rehabilitation,” 2017 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) 3722–3727, 2017.
[30] Sridar Saivimal, Qiao Zhi, Muthukrishnan Niveditha, Zhang Wenlong, Polygerinos Panagiotis, “A Soft-Inflatable Exosuit for Knee Rehabilitation: Assisting Swing Phase During Walking,” Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 5, 44, 2018.
[31] Winter, D. A. Biomechanics and motor control of human movement, 4th edn. Toronto, Canada: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2009.