Enabling Independent Living for Individuals with Cervical Spinal Cord Injury via High-Density Electromyography Controlled Robotic Systems

通过高密度肌电图控制的机器人系统使颈脊髓损伤患者能够独立生活

• 批准号: 2341352
• 负责人: Zackory Erickson
• 金额: $ 59.98万
• 依托单位: Carnegie-Mellon University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-02-15 至 2027-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2341352&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Enabling; Independent; Living; Individuals; Cervical

In the United States, there are over 100,000 individuals living with a spinal cord injury who have lost the use of their hands. The loss of hand function can dramatically change a person’s daily life, forcing them to rely on caregivers to provide assistance. This project aims to develop sensor-embedded garments designed to monitor muscle activity in individuals with tetraplegia resulting from spinal cord injuries. This sensorized garment detects muscle activity in the upper body, even for many people with spinal cord injuries who have lost hand mobility. By decoding and translating these muscle activities, the garment empowers individuals to take control of an assistive robot to perform a variety of household and self-care tasks, such as preparing and eating meals independently and conducting household chores. This research is poised to impact society by restoring a degree of autonomy and agency to individuals with spinal cord injury, promoting open-source development in wearable sensing, integrating research findings into classroom materials, and fostering inclusive education and mentorship for high school students from communities underserved in STEM.This collaborative project between Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh will introduce a high-density electromyography (HDEMG) wearable to capture neuromuscular signals and enable individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) to embody a physically assistive mobile manipulator. Towards this goal, the research project will make key foundational contributions along three thrusts: (1) The design of a sensorized upper-body garment embedded with HDEMG arrays, allowing the capture of residual myoelectric activity and recognition of gesture intent in individuals with SCI. The research team will develop learning-based pattern recognition techniques to interpret the myoelectric activity patterns of attempted arm, wrist, and hand gestures and predict the underlying motor function intent. (2) Development of an interface that enables individuals with SCI to embody an assistive robot by mapping myoelectric signals and inferred gestures to actuator control. The sensorized garment is designed to be comfortable and wearable throughout an entire day, which also necessitates the development of real-time calibration algorithms that allow for accurate myoelectric activity sensing over extended periods of time. (3) The team will conduct a series of in-lab evaluations with stakeholders in collaboration with our community partners. Individuals with SCI will use the wearable to teleoperate an assistive mobile manipulator and perform a range of physical household and self-care activities. These studies will quantify technology performance and efficacy, assess safety, and support iterative refinement and improvements to the key technology components with stakeholder feedback.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.

在美国，有100,000多名患有脊髓损伤的人失去了手的使用。手部功能的丧失可以极大地改变一个人的日常生活，迫使他们依靠护理人员提供帮助。该项目旨在开发旨在监测脊髓损伤引起的四肢瘫痪者的肌肉活动的传感器包裹的服装。这种传感化的服装检测到上半身的肌肉活动，即使对于许多失去手动性的脊髓损伤的人也是如此。通过解码和翻译这些肌肉活动，服装使个人能够控制辅助机器人，以执行各种家庭和自我保健任务，例如独立准备和进餐，并进行家务。这项研究通过恢复脊髓损伤的人的一定程度的自主权和机构而对社会产生了毒化神经肌肉信号和使脊髓损伤（SCI）的个体能够体现出物理辅助的移动操纵器。为了实现这一目标，研究项目将沿三个推力做出关键的基础贡献：（1）设计嵌入HDEMG阵列的敏感的上身服装，从而捕获了SCI患者中残留的肌电活动和识别手势意图。研究团队将开发基于学习的模式识别技术，以解释未遂手臂，手腕和手势的肌电活动模式，并预测潜在的运动功能意图。 （2）开发一个界面，该界面使患有SCI的个体能够通过映射肌电信号并推断出手势以控制执行器控制来体现辅助机器人。感应的服装旨在整天舒适舒适，还需要开发实时校准算法，从而可以在长时间内进行准确的肌电活动感测。 （3）团队将与我们的社区合作伙伴合作，与利益相关者进行一系列单击评估。患有SCI的人将使用可穿戴设备进行辅助移动操纵器，并进行一系列身体家庭和自我保健活动。这些研究将量化技术绩效和效率，评估安全性，并通过利益相关者反馈对关键技术组成部分的迭代改进以及改进。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准通过评估来评估的支持。