I-Corps: Affordable Assistive Devices for Stroke Survivor Rehabilitation

I-Corps：用于中风幸存者康复的经济实惠的辅助设备

• 批准号: 1814360
• 负责人: Rhonda Shrader
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1814360&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Affordable; Assistive; Devices; Stroke

The broader impact of this I-Corps project is in allowing survivors of physical and neurological events to regain autonomy over their rehabilitation. While the proposed work focuses on stroke survivors, there is direct translation to the assessment, assistance, and management of other conditions, as well as use in general training after injury, and in industry to improve efficiency and reduce the risk of injury. There is a potential commercial opportunity in addressing the needs of intervention providers in quantifying the efficacy of their equipment and healthcare providers in allowing for contextualization of patients. Traditional rehabilitation equipment tends to be affordable but difficult to use, resulting in low efficacy and adherence; comparatively, new rehab equipment provides greater efficacy, but is typically more expensive. With drastically lowered manufacturing costs, novel actuation and quantified sensors, and clearer outputs for patient users, this device can provide quantifiable data for evaluation through instantaneous self-motivating metrics. This approach has the potential to disrupt the standard paradigms of rehabilitation.This I-Corps project is informed by research in human-assistive, robotic, technologies. It further develops an affordable, variable-dosage exoskeleton (APEX), a wearable upper-body device to support and assist the limbs, uniquely powered by pneumatic-actuators, and adaptive to address specific user needs through feedback loops of communicative sensors and modeling. By changing the pressures in the device's actuators, APEX assists through gravitational support, passive stretching of joints, and resistance exercises. A series of device-embedded sensors and defined exercises enable the creation of patient-specific models, incorporating limb lengths, masses, ranges of motion, and strengths. By varying the protocol based on a patient's abilities, support can be provided on a spectrum by selectively changing the amount of assistance or resistance. Because APEX utilizes low-cost, low-mass, pneumatic-actuators rather than DC motors, it significantly reduces power consumption and prolongs the capacity of the device. This allows for patients to use the device in their own home, and track progress on a simplified interface - the analytics of which are sent back to their therapist, trainer, or physician.

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响在于允许身体和神经事件的幸存者重新获得自治权。拟议的工作集中于中风幸存者，但直接转化了对其他疾病的评估，援助和管理，以及在受伤后的一般培训中使用，以及在行业中提高效率并降低受伤的风险。在量化其设备和医疗保健提供商允许患者情境化的设备和医疗保健提供者的疗效方面，有潜在的商业机会解决干预提供者的需求。传统的康复设备往往负担得起，但难以使用，导致低功效和依从性；相比之下，新的康复设备提供了更大的功效，但通常更昂贵。由于制造成本大幅降低，新颖的致动和量化的传感器以及对患者用户的更清晰的产出，该设备可以通过瞬时自我激励指标提供可量化的数据进行评估。这种方法有可能破坏康复的标准范例。该I-Corps项目是通过人类辅助，机器人，技术的研究来告知的。它进一步开发了一种负担得起的可变剂量外骨骼（APEX），这是一种可穿戴的上身设备，可用于支撑和协助四肢，由气动激动剂唯一供电，并通过交流传感器和建模的反馈循环来适应以满足特定用户需求。通过改变设备执行器中的压力，Apex通过重力支撑，被动拉伸和阻力练习提供了帮助。一系列装置的传感器和定义的练习可以创建患者特异性模型，并结合肢体长度，质量，运动范围和优势。 通过根据患者的能力改变协议，可以通过选择性更改辅助或阻力量来在频谱上提供支持。由于Apex利用低成本，低质量，气动演员而不是直流电动机，因此可以大大降低功耗并延长设备的容量。这使患者可以在自己的家中使用该设备，并在简化的界面上跟踪进度 - 其分析被发送回他们的治疗师，培训师或医生。