Publications by Year: 2016

2016
P. Malcolm, et al., “Variability Analysis of Walking with Continuously Increasing Assistance from a Soft Exosuit.The 1st Human Movement Variability Conference. 2016. PDF
Y. Ding, F. A. Panizzolo, I. Galiana, C. Siviy, K. G. Holt, and C. J. Walsh, “Effect of Timing of Hip Extension Assistance with IMU-based Iterative Control during Loaded Walking with a Soft Exosuit,” Dynamic Walking. 2016. Abstract Poster
F. Connolly, C. J. Walsh, and K. Bertoldi, “Using Analytical Modeling to Design Customized Fiber-Reinforced Soft Actuators,” Society of Engineering Science 53rd Annual Technical Meeting. 2016. PDF
E. Rogers, P. Polygerinos, S. Allen, F. A. Panizzolo, C. J. Walsh, and D. P. Holland, “A Quasi-Passive Knee Exoskeleton to Assist During Descent,” International Symposium on Wearable Robotics (WeRob) 2016. 2016. PDF
Y. Ding, et al., “Effect of timing of hip extension assistance during loaded walking with a soft exosuit,” Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, vol. 2016, no. 13, pp. 87, 2016. Publisher's VersionAbstract

 

Background
Recent advances in wearable robotic devices have demonstrated the ability to reduce the metabolic cost of walking by assisting the ankle joint. To achieve greater gains in the future it will be important to determine optimal actuation parameters and explore the effect of assisting other joints. The aim of the present work is to investigate how the timing of hip extension assistance affects the positive mechanical power delivered by an exosuit and its effect on biological joint power and metabolic cost during loaded walking. In this study, we evaluated 4 different hip assistive profiles with different actuation timings: early-start-early-peak (ESEP), early-start-late-peak (ESLP), late-start-early-peak (LSEP), late-start-late-peak (LSLP).

Methods
Eight healthy participants walked on a treadmill at a constant speed of 1.5 m · s-1 while carrying a 23 kg backpack load. We tested five different conditions: four with the assistive profiles described above and one unpowered condition where no assistance was provided. We evaluated participants’ lower limb kinetics, kinematics, metabolic cost and muscle activation.

Results
The variation of timing in the hip extension assistance resulted in a different amount of mechanical power delivered to the wearer across conditions; with the ESLP condition providing a significantly higher amount of positive mechanical power (0.219 ± 0.006 W · kg-1) with respect to the other powered conditions. Biological joint power was significantly reduced at the hip (ESEP and ESLP) and at the knee (ESEP, ESLP and LSEP) with respect to the unpowered condition. Further, all assistive profiles significantly reduced the metabolic cost of walking compared to the unpowered condition by 5.7 ± 1.5 %, 8.5 ± 0.9 %, 6.3 ± 1.4 % and 7.1 ± 1.9 % (mean ± SE for ESEP, ESLP, LSEP, LSLP, respectively).

Conclusions
The highest positive mechanical power delivered by the soft exosuit was reported in the ESLP condition, which showed also a significant reduction in both biological hip and knee joint power. Further, the ESLP condition had the highest average metabolic reduction among the powered conditions. Future work on autonomous hip exoskeletons may incorporate these considerations when designing effective control strategies.

 

PDF
D. P. Holland, G. J. Bennett, G. M. Whitesides, R. J. Wood, and C. J. Walsh, “The 2015 Soft Robotics Competition,” IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 25-27, 2016. Publisher's Version PDF
N. Karavas, et al., “Autonomous Soft Exosuit for Hip Extension Assistance,” International Symposium on Wearable Robotics (WeRob) 2016. 2016. PDF
T. Miyatake, et al., “Biomechanical analysis and inertial sensing of ankle joint while stepping on an unanticipated bump,” International Symposium on Wearable Robotics (WeRob) 2016. 2016. PDF
M. Grimmer, et al., “Comparison of Ankle Moment Inspired And Ankle Positive Power Inspired Controllers for a Multi-articular Soft Exosuit for Walking Assistance,” International Symposium on Wearable Robotics (WeRob) 2016. 2016. PDF
H. Su, et al., “Evaluation of Force Tracking Controller with Soft Exosuit for Hip Extension Assistance,” International Symposium on Wearable Robotics (WeRob) 2016. 2016. PDF
O. Araromi, C. J. Walsh, and R. J. Wood, “Fabrication of Stretchable Composites with Anisotropic Electrical Conductivity for Compliant Pressure Transducers,” in IEEE Sensors Conference 2016, Orlando, Florida, 2016. Publisher's VersionAbstract

We present a simple fabrication approach for anisotropically conductive stretchable composites, towards novel flexible pressure transducers. Flexible electronic systems have gained great interest in recent years, and within this space, anisotropic conducting materials have been explored for enhanced sensing performance. However, current methods for producing these materials are complex or are limited to small fabrication areas. Our method uses film applicator coating to render commercially available conductive RTVs anisotropically conductive. A ratio of in-plane surface resistance to through-thickness resistance of 1010 was achieved using our method. Furthermore, we show that when a normal pressure is applied to such films, the in-plane resistance can be reduced by seven orders of magnitude for an applied pressure of 10 kPa. Hence these materials show great promise for the development of novel, robust pressure transducers.

PDF
J. B. Gafford, F. Doshi-Velez, R. J. Wood, and C. J. Walsh, “Machine learning approaches to environmental disturbance rejection in multi-axis optoelectronic force sensors,” Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, vol. 248, pp. 78 - 87, 2016. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Light-Intensity Modulated (LIM) force sensors are seeing increasing interest in the field of surgical robotics and flexible systems in particular. However, such sensing modalities are notoriously susceptible to ambient effects such as temperature and environmental irradiance which can register as false force readings. We explore machine learning techniques to dynamically compensate for environmental biases that plague multi-axis optoelectronic force sensors. In this work, we fabricate a multisensor: three-axis LIM force sensor with integrated temperature and ambient irradiance sensing manufactured via a monolithic, origami-inspired fabrication process called printed-circuit MEMS. We explore machine learning regression techniques to compensate for temperature and ambient light sensitivity using on-board environmental sensor data. We compare batch-based ridge regression, kernelized regression and support vector techniques to baseline ordinary least-squares estimates to show that on-board environmental monitoring can substantially improve sensor force tracking performance and output stability under variable lighting and large (>100C) thermal gradients. By augmenting the least-squares estimate with nonlinear functions describing both environmental disturbances and cross-axis coupling effects, we can reduce the error in Fx, Fy and Fz by 10%, 33%, and 73%, respectively. We assess viability of each algorithm tested in terms of both prediction accuracy and computational overhead, and analyze kernel-based regression for prediction in the context of online force feedback and haptics applications in surgical robotics. Finally, we suggest future work for fast approximation and prediction using stochastic, sparse kernel techniques.

PDF
S. Russo, T. Ranzani, C. J. Walsh, and R. J. Wood, “A soft pop-up proprioceptive actuator for minimally invasive surgery,” The 9th Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics. pp. [Best Poster Award], 2016. PDF
T. Ranzani, S. Russo, C. J. Walsh, and R. J. Wood, “A soft suction-based end effector for endoluminal tissue manipulation,” The 9th Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics. 2016. PDF
S. Lee, F. Panizzolo, T. Miyatake, D. M. Rossi, C. Siviy, and C. J. Walsh, “Lower limb biomechanical analysis of unanticipated step on a bump,” Dynamic Walking. 2016. Abstract Poster
J. Bae, et al., “Assisting paretic ankle motion with a soft exosuit can reduce whole-body compensatory gait patterns and improve walking efficiency for patients after stroke,” Dynamic Walking. 2016. PDF
F. A. Panizzolo, et al., “A biologically-inspired multi-joint soft exosuit that can reduce the energy cost of loaded walking,” Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 1-14, 2016. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Carrying load alters normal walking, imposes additional stress to the musculoskeletal system, and results in an increase in energy consumption and a consequent earlier onset of fatigue. This phenomenon is largely due to increased work requirements in lower extremity joints, in turn requiring higher muscle activation. The aim of this work was to assess the biomechanical and physiological effects of a multi-joint soft exosuit that applies assistive torques to the biological hip and ankle joints during loaded walking.

PDF
C. A. Cezar, E. T. Roche, H. H. Vandenburgh, G. N. Duda, C. J. Walsh, and D. J. Mooney, “Biologic-free mechanically induced muscle regeneration,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), vol. 113, no. 6, pp. 1534-1539, 2016. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Severe skeletal muscle injuries are common and can lead to extensive fibrosis, scarring, and loss of function. Clinically, no therapeutic intervention exists that allows for a full functional restoration. As a result, both drug and cellular therapies are being widely investigated for treatment of muscle injury. Because muscle is known to respond to mechanical loading, we investigated instead whether a material system capable of massage-like compressions could promote regeneration. Magnetic actuation of biphasic ferrogel scaffolds implanted at the site of muscle injury resulted in uniform cyclic compressions that led to reduced fibrous capsule formation around the implant, as well as reduced fibrosis and inflammation in the injured muscle. In contrast, no significant effect of ferrogel actuation on muscle vascularization or perfusion was found. Strikingly, ferrogel-driven mechanical compressions led to enhanced muscle regeneration and a ∼threefold increase in maximum contractile force of the treated muscle at 2 wk compared with no-treatment controls. Although this study focuses on the repair of severely injured skeletal muscle, magnetically stimulated bioagent-free ferrogels may find broad utility in the field of regenerative medicine.

PDF
S. Lee, S. Crea, P. Malcolm, I. B. Galiana, A. T. Asbeck, and C. J. Walsh, “Controlling Negative and Positive Power at the Ankle with a Soft Exosuit,” in IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Stockholm, Sweden, 2016, pp. 3509-3515. Publisher's VersionAbstract
The soft exosuit is a new approach for applying assistive forces over the wearer's body through load paths configured by the textile architecture. In this paper, we present a body-worn lower-extremity soft exosuit and a new control approach that can independently control the level of assistance that is provided during negative- and positive-power periods at the ankle. The exosuit was designed to create load paths assisting ankle plantarflexion and hip flexion, and the actuation system transmits forces from the motors to the suit via Bowden cables. A load cell and two gyro sensors per leg are used to measure real-time data, and the controller performs position control of the cable on a step-by-step basis with respect to the power delivered to the wearer's ankle by controlling two force parameters, the pretension and the active force. Human subjects testing results demonstrate that the controller is capable of modulating the amount of power delivered to the ankle joint. Also, significant reductions in metabolic rate (11%-15%) were observed, which indicates the potential of the proposed control approach to provide benefit to the wearer during walking.
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B. Quinlivan, et al., “Multi-articular soft exosuit continually reduces the metabolic cost of unloaded walking with increased assistance magnitude,” Dynamic Walking. 2016. PDF

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