Collaborative Research: Assistive Robotics and Functional Electrical Stimulation: A Synergistic Combination to Reanimate Paralyzed Arms

合作研究：辅助机器人和功能性电刺激：使瘫痪手臂复活的协同组合

• 批准号: 2025130
• 负责人: Marcia O'Malley
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: William Marsh Rice University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-04-15 至 2025-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2025130&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Assistive; Robotics; Functional

People who are paralyzed from the shoulders down rely on 24-hour care to complete basic daily activities. Restoring arm and hand function would greatly increase their independence. Assistive robotics and functional electrical stimulation can potentially restore arm and hand function, but each has significant drawbacks. The objective of this project is to develop a cooperative control strategy for functional elbow and wrist movements in people with high cervical spinal cord injuries using functional electrical stimulation and a robotic exoskeleton. The results of the project will help move functional electrical stimulation and upper limb robotics from laboratory assistive technologies to wearable devices used for everyday tasks by people with full-arm paralysis. The complementary strengths of functional electrical stimulation (FES) and assistive robotics can potentially enable people with high tetraplegia to independently feed and groom themselves. FES provides free power using a person’s own muscles but cannot sufficiently control all joints simultaneously due to permanent denervation of some muscles. Assistive robots can provide additional power and control, but can be rigid, bulky, and heavy. This project's objective is to develop a cooperative control strategy that demonstrates functional elbow and wrist movements in people with high tetraplegia using a hybrid FES+rigid support robot. By maximizing the utility of muscles activated by FES, the proposed hybrid strategy will reduce the need for robot power and size, paving the way for using FES with soft wearable robotics. This project will use a rigid robot as the testbed for developing cooperative control strategies, allowing for exploration of the entire design space for future development of soft wearable exosuits coupled with FES. FES+robot assisted muscle-induced torques will be measured in real time during elbow and wrist movements. This information will feed into a coordinated FES+robot control scheme that aims to decrease robot work while maintaining tracking accuracy. Performance and robustness of the control scheme will be benchmarked for varying robot capabilities during a self-feeding task. The outcome will be a model, mapping robot capabilities to task completion success, to be used to design future wearable hybrid FES-robotic systems for upper limb movement restoration. These advances will open up new research horizons in commanding and controlling hybrid neuroprostheses that could not otherwise be achieved.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

从肩膀瘫痪的人依靠24小时的护理来完成基本的日常活动。恢复手臂和手部功能将大大提高其独立性。辅助机器人技术和功能性电刺激可以潜在地恢复手臂和手部功能，但每个刺激都有明显的缺点。该项目的目的是使用功能电气模拟和机器人外骨骼的高颈脊髓损伤患者的功能性肘部和手腕运动制定合作控制策略。该项目的结果将有助于将功能性电气模拟和上肢机器人技术从实验室辅助技术转移到全臂瘫痪者每天使用的可穿戴设备。功能电气仿真（FES）和辅助机器人技术的完整优势可以使四翼型高的人能够独立喂养和修饰自己。 FES使用人自己的肌肉提供自由动力，但由于某些肌肉的永久性去神经，因此无法充分控制所有关节。辅助机器人可以提供额外的功率和控制，但可以僵硬，笨重和沉重。该项目的目标是制定一种合作控制策略，该策略证明了使用混合FES+刚性支撑机器人使用高四脑血统的人的功能性肘部和手腕运动。通过最大化FES激活的肌肉的效用，提出的混合策略将减少对机器人功率和尺寸的需求，从而粘贴了与柔软可穿戴机器人使用FES的道路。该项目将使用一个刚性机器人作为制定合作控制策略的测试床，从而探索整个设计空间，以便将来开发柔软可穿戴外套和FES。 FES+机器人辅助肌肉引起的扭矩将在肘部和手腕运动过程中实时测量。该信息将融入协调的FES+机器人控制方案，该方案旨在降低机器人工作，同时保持跟踪精度。在自喂养任务期间，将对控制方案的性能和鲁棒性进行基准测试，以实现不同的机器人功能。结果将是一个模型，将机器人功能绘制为任务完成成功，用于设计未来的可穿戴混合动力FES-ROBOTOTIOT SYSTEM，用于上肢运动恢复。这些进步将在指挥和控制杂交神经植物方面开辟新的研究视野，这些奖项否则无法实现。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子和更广泛的影响评估标准来通过评估来评估。

项目成果

Multi Degree of Freedom Hybrid FES and Robotic Control of the Upper Limb

多自由度混合FES和上肢机器人控制

• DOI: 10.1109/tnsre.2024.3364517
• 发表时间: 2024
• 期刊: IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering
• 影响因子: 4.9
• 作者: Dunkelberger, Nathan;Carlson, Skye A.;Berning, Jeffrey;Schearer, Eric M.;O’Malley, Marcia K.
• 通讯作者: O’Malley, Marcia K.

Design, Characterization, and Dynamic Simulation of the MAHI Open Exoskeleton Upper Limb Robot

• DOI: 10.1109/tmech.2022.3175507
• 发表时间: 2022-06-03
• 期刊: IEEE-ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS
• 影响因子: 6.4
• 作者: Dunkelberger, Nathan;Berning, Jeffrey;Omalley, Marcia K.
• 通讯作者: Omalley, Marcia K.

Shared Control of Elbow Movements with Functional Electrical Stimulation and Exoskeleton Assistance

通过功能性电刺激和外骨骼辅助共享肘部运动控制

• DOI: 10.1109/icorr55369.2022.9896570
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: IEEE Int Conf Rehabil Robot
• 作者: Dunkelberger, Nathan;Carlson, Skye A.;Berning, Jeffrey;Stovicek, Kyra C.;Schearer, Eric M.;O'Malley, Marcia K.
• 通讯作者: O'Malley, Marcia K.