Environmental Imaging and Control for Exoskeletons to Improve Safety and Mobility

Innovative Design LabsIDLproposes to create a system to improve the mobility and control of exoskeletonsRecent research has found thatmillion Americans require wheelchairs and the number has been increasing annually by an average annual rate ofper yearWhile wheelchairs provide freedomallowing users to be independent as well as reducing dependence upon otherswheelchair use is not physically or emotionally equivalent to walking and is often thought to limit community participation and thus exacerbate social isolationRobotic exoskeletons bionic suits have the potential to enable these individuals to stand up and walkthus providing a way to more fully reintegrate these individuals into societyOur proposal seeks to address one of the hurdles limiting the widespread adoption of exoskeletons in the home and community the inability of the user to dynamically control gait parametersThis concept has the potential to significantly change the way exoskeletons work and facilitate their adoption into the marketHypothesisWe hypothesize that the proposed solution will provide users a practical way to adjust their suit s gait to precisely achieve their navigational goalsSpecific AimsPhase IBuild a prototype and Perform Preliminary Laboratory TestingDevelop and Benchmark AlgorithmsandPerform Pilot Human Study of Prototype with Exoskeleton SubjectsPhase IIDevelop CustomizedProduction Ready Hardware and FirmwareIntegrate with Exoskeleton Control SystemandPerform an evaluation of the system through human study testing Recent research has found thatmillion Americans require wheelchairs and that number has been increasing annually by an average annual rate ofper yearWhile wheelchairs provide freedomallowing users to be independent as well as reducing dependence upon otherswheelchair use is not physically or emotionally equivalent to walking and is often thought to limit community participation and thus exacerbate social isolationRobotic exoskeletons bionic suits have the potential to enable these individuals to stand up and walk thereby providing a way to more fully reintegrate these individuals into society