Soft-exoskeleton suit To Restore Autonomous Locomotion

Introduction

Imagine putting on a pair of pants; it feels soft like ordinary clothing fabrics, but unlike any other, this one is made of high-performance robotic soft actuators and soft sensors. This is my vision of future exoskeletons being just like everyday clothing: light, soft, and powerful enough to fully support the wearer.

Problem Statement

The loss of the ability to walk is devastating for many suffering from stroke, spinal cord injury, and alike. An ergonomic, lightweight exoskeleton can surely help these patients to walk again autonomously. This is challenging due to large gaps between conventional rigid body dynamic-based walking control and soft structures.

Technical Challenges

Such an exoskeleton has to integrate high-performance soft mechatronics to perform walking to an unprecedented extent. I am uniquely qualified to achieve this due to my extensive experience in the fields of robotics and neuroengineering, as well as my leading role in the engineering of world-leading high-performance humanoid robots which incorporate control, modeling, and experimental evaluation.

Project Overview

STROLL will develop a soft wearable robotic exoskeleton to restore the walking capability of patients with lower-body paralysis. The soft wearable exoskeleton that I propose to develop will combine groundbreaking innovations in:

1. Advanced high-performance textile-based actuators
2. Lower-body tactile sensors
3. Advanced locomotion control

Research Focus

STROLL will investigate new control strategies and methods for tactile-based control for balancing and walking.

Ultimate Goal

As its ultimate goal, STROLL will take on the ambition to enable a lower-limb paralyzed person to take a stroll in the park with an autonomous soft textile exoskeleton.

Conclusion

Despite the methodological difficulties and the uncertainty of the results, the project is more than worth pursuing, as the pay-off is highly significant to benefit the lives of millions of patients suffering from lower-limb disorders.