Descripción del proyecto
Un exoesqueleto blando y ligero que se lleva como un pantalón podría ayudar a las personas a volver a caminar
Muchas afecciones, como las lesiones de la médula espinal y los accidentes cerebrovasculares, pueden provocar la pérdida de movilidad de las extremidades inferiores e imposibilitar la marcha. Durante décadas, existieron muy pocas opciones, si es que había alguna, en función de la gravedad de la afección. Más recientemente, los exoesqueletos robóticos integrados han surgido como una forma prometedora de restaurar parcialmente la función y ayudar a las personas a volver a caminar. Sin embargo, la mayoría son sistemas pesados y engorrosos. El equipo del proyecto STROLL, financiado por el Consejo Europeo de Investigación, pretende desarrollar un exoesqueleto robótico blando y ponible similar a un pantalón. Utilizará accionadores textiles avanzados, sensores táctiles en la parte inferior del cuerpo y un control avanzado de la locomoción para devolver la capacidad de caminar a pacientes con parálisis en la parte inferior del cuerpo.
Objetivo
Imagine putting on a pair of pants, it feels soft like ordinary clothing fabrics, but unlike any other, this one is made of high-performance robotic soft actuators and soft sensors. This is my vision of future exoskeletons being just like everyday clothing, light, soft, and powerful enough to fully support the wearer.
The loss of the ability to walk is devastating for many suffering from stroke, spinal cord injury, and alike. An ergonomic, light-weight exoskeleton can surely help these patients to walk again autonomously. This is challenging due to large gaps between conventional rigid body dynamic-based walking control and soft structures because such an exoskeleton has to integrate high-performance soft mechatronics, to perform walking to an unprecedented extent. I am uniquely qualified to achieve this due to my extensive experience in the fields of robotics and neuroengineering, as well as my leading role in the engineering of world-leading high-performance humanoid robots which incorporate control, modelling, and experimental evaluation.
STROLL will develop a soft wearable robotic exoskeleton to restore the walking capability of patients with lower-body paralysis. The soft wearable exoskeleton that I propose to develop will combine ground-breaking innovations in advanced high-performance textile-based actuators, lower-body tactile sensors, and advanced locomotion control. STROLL will investigate new control strategies and methods for tactile-based control for balancing and walking.
As its ultimate goal, STROLL will take on the ambition to enable a lower-limb paralysed person to take a stroll in the park with an autonomous soft textile exoskeleton.
Despite the methodological difficulties and the uncertainty of the results, the project is more than worth pursuing, as the pay-off is highly significant to benefit the lives of millions of patients suffering from lower-limbs disorders.
Ámbito científico
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringtextiles
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringroboticsautonomous robots
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringmechatronics
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicineneurologystroke
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsInstitución de acogida
80333 Muenchen
Alemania