Real-time quantification of muscle-tendon dynamics for individualized and adaptive robot-assisted locomotion

实时量化肌肉肌腱动力学，以实现个性化和自适应机器人辅助运动

• 批准号: 10057301
• 负责人: ROBERT D HOWE
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: HARVARD UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-08-01 至 2022-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10057301
• 关键词: 15 year old; Acceleration; Achievement; Adult; Algorithms; American; Ankle; Behavior; Biological; Biomechanics; Caliber; Catheters; Censuses; Clinical; Communities; Complex; Custom; Data; Data Set; Development; Devices; Economics; Elderly; Ensure; Environment; Face; Future; Gait; Gastrocnemius Muscle; Generations; Health; Healthcare; Hip Joint; Human; Image; Imaging technology; Impairment; Individual; Investigation; Joints; Kinetics; Leg; Life; Locomotion; Manuals; Measurement; Measures; Metabolic; Methods; Motion; Muscle; Muscle Contraction; Participant; Pathologic; Phase; Pilot Projects; Reaction; Reporting; Research Personnel; Research Project Grants; Risk; Robot; Role; Series; Signal Transduction; Soleus Muscle; Speed; Survivors; System; Techniques; Technology; Tendon structure; Testing; Textiles; Time; Torque; Ultrasonography; Validation; Walking; Work; achilles tendon; adaptive robot; ankle joint; base; community setting; comorbidity; cost; design; disability; effectiveness validation; exoskeleton; exosuit; experience; heart imaging; human-in-the-loop; image processing; improved; individual response; individual variation; insight; instrumentation; kinematics; light weight; novel strategies; operation; patient population; portability; post stroke; response; robot assistance; sensor; young adult

Walking function has a critical role in life functions and health. According to the Americans with Disability: 2010 report from the US Census Bureau, roughly 30.6 million individuals aged 15 years and older had limitations associated with ambulation including difficulty walking. These limitations represent a significant healthcare, societal and economic problem, as these people are at risk of developing co-morbidities, rapidly declining health, and face significant challenges associated with integrating into the community and rejoining the workforce. Impaired ankle function is thought to be a major contributing factor to the reduced gait function in elderly and stoke survivors. Recent results suggest that ankle-assisting exosuits can improve gait after stroke. The Biodesign Lab has developed new soft exoskeleton systems (“exosuits”) that are constructed from compliant materials such as fabrics and transmit force from small actuator packs to ankle and hip joints. By triggering actuation to assist the user at carefully-selected phases of the gait cycle, these systems demonstrably reduce the energetic cost of locomotion and can help correct pathological gait. Compared to traditional rigid exoskeletons, these systems are lightweight, comfortable, and do not hinder normal joint motions. Numerous studies have confirmed that wearable ankle exoskeletons or exosuits can significantly lower the metabolic cost of locomotion and promote more effective gait. However, individual benefit varies widely and the assistance parameters (e.g. applied joint torque, timing) that work well for some individuals are counterproductive for others. State-of-the-art techniques such as empirical optimization are successful in finding the metabolic optimum but are time intensive and often limited to the gait condition tested. Additionally, these methods so far fail to provide a mechanistic explanation for differences in individual response which could be used to improve exosuit design and function. This proposal targets a new approach for quickly individualizing assistance through the development of low- profile and portable ultrasound imaging technology that can visualize and measure the behavior of muscles and tendons within the leg. The hypothesis is that direct measurement of the dynamics of the plantarflexor muscle- tendon unit (MTU) using ultrasound imaging will provide essential insight into the mechanisms that underlie human interaction with exosuit assistance. Furthermore, signals derived from MTU dynamics can enable effective individualized and adaptive exosuit assistance in diverse gait conditions. This developmental R21 project will result in the creation and validation of a system to measure the state of important MTU parameters in the leg during exosuit operation. The rich biomechanics dataset will provide insights into user response and will be made available to researchers. The preliminary work with elderly individuals will provide the framework for extending the potential of exosuit technology to a broader range of clinical users where assistive strategies are customized to the user and the demands of real-world locomotion.

根据《美国残疾人：2010》的报告，步行功能对生活功能和健康起着至关重要的作用。 美国人口普查局的报告显示，大约 3060 万名 15 岁及以上的人受到限制 与行走相关，包括行走困难，这些限制代表了重要的医疗保健， 社会和经济问题，因为这些人面临着罹患合并症、健康状况迅速恶化的风险， 并面临与融入社区和重新加入劳动力队伍相关的重大挑战。 踝关节功能受损被认为是导致老年人和老年人步态功能下降的一个主要因素。 最近的研究结果表明，脚踝辅助外装可以改善中风后的步态。 生物设计实验室开发了新型软外骨骼系统（“外骨骼服”），该系统由合规材料制成 织物等材料，并通过触发将力从小型执行器包传递到踝关节和髋关节。 驱动以帮助用户在步态周期中精心选择的阶段，这些系统明显减少了 与传统的刚性外骨骼相比，运动的能量消耗可以帮助纠正病态步态。 这些系统重量轻、舒适，并且不会妨碍正常的关节运动。 大量研究证实，可穿戴式踝关节外骨骼或外骨骼服可以显着降低 运动的代谢成本并促进更有效的步态然而，个体效益差异很大，并且 对于某些人来说效果很好的辅助参数（例如施加的关节扭矩、时间）是 对于其他人来说，最先进的技术（例如经验优化）却能成功地找到答案。 代谢最佳值，但时间密集，并且通常仅限于测试的步态条件。 迄今为止的方法未能为个体反应的差异提供机械解释，这可能是 用于改进外装套装的设计和功能。 该提案的目标是通过开发低效的快速个性化援助的新方法。 轮廓和便携式超声成像技术，可以可视化和测量肌肉的行为 假设是直接测量跖屈肌的动态。 使用超声成像的肌腱单元（MTU）将提供对潜在机制的重要见解 此外，来自 MTU 动力学的信号可以实现人类与外骨骼辅助的交互。 在不同的步态条件下提供有效的个性化和适应性外装援助。 这个开发 R21 项目将创建和验证一个系统来测量 丰富的生物力学数据集将提供外装操作期间腿部的重要 MTU 参数。 深入了解用户反应并将向研究人员提供针对老年人的初步工作。 个人将提供框架，将外骨骼技术的潜力扩展到更广泛的领域 临床用户，根据用户和现实世界运动的需求定制辅助策略。