Research in this area has been pioneered by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and its partners in academia and industry in order to develop an exosuit that can reduce stress and prevent musculoskeletal injuries while enabling soldiers to carry more weight over longer distances, while also improving their cognitive abilities. Working with Harvard University’s Wyss Institute as part of the Warrior Web program, DARPA has also developed a soft exosuit that will put a spring in the wearer’s step and even make them a better runner.
Soft Exoskeletons: When people talk about the future of warfare they often discuss using technologies such as drones or robots as a replacement for human troops on the ground. The distinction doesn’t have to be quite so binary, though. Cutting edge technologies can also be used to “supercharge” troops by giving humans enhanced abilities, including faster speeds and greater strength.
Developed jointly with the robotics institute of Harvard University in Boston, the system operates on one leg, because generally in stroke victims one side is more affected than the other. Its motors and cables are connected to a waist pack that has a computer. Physical therapists can use a tablet to set their patient’s walking plan and determine how much walking assistance the patient requires.
연구를 위해 8명의 성인 남성이 엑소수트를 착용하고 러닝머신 위에서 걸었다. 연구진은 컴퓨터로 모든 움직임을 모니터링했다. 연구진은 이것을 인간 참여형(human-in-the-loop) 실험이라고 부른다. 알고리즘이 엑소수트가 힘을 가한 시점, 피실험자가 선호하는 동작 등을 수집 및 분석해 업데이트했다. 참가자들은 개인화된 프로파일을 받았다. 이 기술로 엑소수트는 큰 에너지를 소비하지 않고 착용자의 걸음을 효율적으로 보조했다.
로봇 외골격 수트를 넘어 개인화된 로봇 외골격이라는 아이디어가 다소 과장되게 들릴 수도 있다. 그러나 이 기술을 필요로 하는 사람들에게는 게임 체인저가 될 수 있다는 것이 디지털트렌즈의 분석이다. 일반인들 대부분은 걸어다니는 능력을 쉽고 당연하게 생각한다. 그에 투입되는 노력에 대해 신경쓰지 않는다. 그러나 신체적 장애가 있는 사람들을 위해 일상적으로 도움을 주는 보조 기술이 필요하다면 개인화된 것이 훨씬 더 의미가 있다. 이 기술은 또한 육체적으로 능력있는 사람들이 힘을 키우거나 걷는 능력을 향상시킬 수 있도록 고안된 외골격 수트로도 활용 가능하다.
We live in an age of personalized Amazon recommendations, Facebook news feeds, and Google search results. Why shouldn’t we have personalized robot exosuits as well? That’s the thinking driving a new project from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and Harvard University’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Researchers there have been working out how to personalize assistive soft robotic wearables so that they move in sync with the people they are intended to help.
사람이 걸을 때 힘이 들면 날숨에 섞인 산소와 이산화탄소 비율이 올라간다. 연구진은 이 정보를 바탕으로 힘이 많이 들 때 최적의 엉덩이 힘과 에너지 효율이 높은 보폭을 찾아내는 알고리즘을 개발했다. 로봇이 사람의 걸음걸이와 칼로리 소모율을 인식해 가장 적게 에너지를 소모하는 작동 방법을 찾아낸 것이다. 건강한 남성 여덟 명에게 로봇을 입히고 호흡 측정 장치를 착용한 채 러닝머신을 걷게 한 결과 그냥 걷는 것보다 17.4%까지 신진대사량(힘)을 아낄 수 있는 것으로 나타났다.
“With wearable robots like soft exosuits, it is critical that the right assistance is delivered at the right time so that they can work synergistically with the wearer,” said Walsh. “With these online optimization algorithms, systems can learn how to achieve this automatically in about 20 minutes, thus maximizing benefit to the wearer.”
You wouldn’t assume that one size fits all for a pair of shoes, so why would you assume the same for an exoskeleton? New research by engineers at the Wyss Institute of Harvard University was able to reduce a user’s metabolic output by a net average of 17.4 percent (compared to walking without it). They achieved this by using an algorithm to customize hip-assisted exosuits to the wearer’s stride.
In 2013, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Warrior Web program created an lightweight exoskeleton that could be worn under a uniform to reduce injuries and fatigue. In 2014, it awarded a $2.9 million grant to Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering to continue work on the Soft Exosuit that monitored a walking soldier's leg muscles and tendons and provided "small but carefully timed assistance at the joints of the leg without restricting the wearer’s movement."
