Basic functionality of a prototype wearable assistive soft exoskeleton for people with gait impairments - a case study

Eveline S. Graf; Adam De Eyto; Matteo Sposito; Carole Pauli; Leonard O'Sullivan; Christoph M. Bauer; Eliza Bottenberg; Daniel Scherly; Laura Erkens; Markus Wirz; Jesús Ortiz; Valerie Power; Tommaso Poliero; René Henke; Ger Brinks; Konrad S. Stadler

doi:10.1145/3197768.3197779

Basic functionality of a prototype wearable assistive soft exoskeleton for people with gait impairments - a case study

Eveline S. Graf, Adam De Eyto, Matteo Sposito, Carole Pauli, Leonard O'Sullivan, Christoph M. Bauer, Eliza Bottenberg, Daniel Scherly, Laura Erkens, Markus Wirz, Jesús Ortiz, Valerie Power, Tommaso Poliero, René Henke, Ger Brinks, Konrad S. Stadler

School of Architecture & Product Design

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

Abstract

XoSoft is a soft modular wearable assistive exoskeleton for people with mild to moderate gait impairments. It is currently being developed by a European Consortium (www.xosoft.eu) and aims to provide tailored and active lower limb support during ambulation. During development, user-centered design principles were followed in parallel with the aim of providing functional support during gait. A prototype was developed and was tested for practicability, usability, comfort and assistive function (summarized as basic functionality) with a potential end user. The prototype consisted of a garment, electromagnetic clutch-controlled elastic bands supporting knee- and hip flexion and a backpack containing the sensor and actuator control of the system. The participant had experienced a stroke and presented with unilateral impairment of the lower and upper extremities. In testing, he donned and doffed the prototype independently as far as possible, and performed walking trials with the system in both active (powered on) and passive (powered off) modes. Afterwards, the participant rated the perceived pressure and various elements of usability. Results highlighted aspects of the system for improvement during future phases of XoSoft development, and also identified useful aspects of prototype design to be maintained. The basic functionality of XoSoft could be assumed as satisfactory given that it was the first version of a working prototype. The study highlights the benefits of this participatory evaluation design approach in assistive soft robotics development.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 11th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference, PETRA 2018
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	202-207
Number of pages	6
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450363907
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3197768.3197779
Publication status	Published - 26 Jun 2018
Event	11th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments, PETRA 2018 - Corfu, Greece Duration: 26 Jun 2018 → 29 Jun 2018

Publication series

Name	ACM International Conference Proceeding Series

Conference

Conference	11th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments, PETRA 2018
Country/Territory	Greece
City	Corfu
Period	26/06/18 → 29/06/18

Keywords

Basic functionality
Exoskeleton
Exosuit
Soft robotics
Stroke

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1145/3197768.3197779

Cite this

Graf, E. S., De Eyto, A., Sposito, M., Pauli, C., O'Sullivan, L., Bauer, C. M., Bottenberg, E., Scherly, D., Erkens, L., Wirz, M., Ortiz, J., Power, V., Poliero, T., Henke, R., Brinks, G., & Stadler, K. S. (2018). Basic functionality of a prototype wearable assistive soft exoskeleton for people with gait impairments - a case study. In Proceedings of the 11th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference, PETRA 2018 (pp. 202-207). (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3197768.3197779

Graf, Eveline S. ; De Eyto, Adam ; Sposito, Matteo et al. / Basic functionality of a prototype wearable assistive soft exoskeleton for people with gait impairments - a case study. Proceedings of the 11th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference, PETRA 2018. Association for Computing Machinery, 2018. pp. 202-207 (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series).

@inproceedings{0e45be521fa541fcb55d1f4d343c1a1f,

title = "Basic functionality of a prototype wearable assistive soft exoskeleton for people with gait impairments - a case study",

abstract = "XoSoft is a soft modular wearable assistive exoskeleton for people with mild to moderate gait impairments. It is currently being developed by a European Consortium (www.xosoft.eu) and aims to provide tailored and active lower limb support during ambulation. During development, user-centered design principles were followed in parallel with the aim of providing functional support during gait. A prototype was developed and was tested for practicability, usability, comfort and assistive function (summarized as basic functionality) with a potential end user. The prototype consisted of a garment, electromagnetic clutch-controlled elastic bands supporting knee- and hip flexion and a backpack containing the sensor and actuator control of the system. The participant had experienced a stroke and presented with unilateral impairment of the lower and upper extremities. In testing, he donned and doffed the prototype independently as far as possible, and performed walking trials with the system in both active (powered on) and passive (powered off) modes. Afterwards, the participant rated the perceived pressure and various elements of usability. Results highlighted aspects of the system for improvement during future phases of XoSoft development, and also identified useful aspects of prototype design to be maintained. The basic functionality of XoSoft could be assumed as satisfactory given that it was the first version of a working prototype. The study highlights the benefits of this participatory evaluation design approach in assistive soft robotics development.",

keywords = "Basic functionality, Exoskeleton, Exosuit, Soft robotics, Stroke",

author = "Graf, {Eveline S.} and {De Eyto}, Adam and Matteo Sposito and Carole Pauli and Leonard O'Sullivan and Bauer, {Christoph M.} and Eliza Bottenberg and Daniel Scherly and Laura Erkens and Markus Wirz and Jes{\'u}s Ortiz and Valerie Power and Tommaso Poliero and Ren{\'e} Henke and Ger Brinks and Stadler, {Konrad S.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).; 11th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments, PETRA 2018 ; Conference date: 26-06-2018 Through 29-06-2018",

year = "2018",

month = jun,

day = "26",

doi = "10.1145/3197768.3197779",

language = "English",

series = "ACM International Conference Proceeding Series",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",

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Graf, ES, De Eyto, A, Sposito, M, Pauli, C, O'Sullivan, L, Bauer, CM, Bottenberg, E, Scherly, D, Erkens, L, Wirz, M, Ortiz, J, Power, V, Poliero, T, Henke, R, Brinks, G & Stadler, KS 2018, Basic functionality of a prototype wearable assistive soft exoskeleton for people with gait impairments - a case study. in Proceedings of the 11th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference, PETRA 2018. ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 202-207, 11th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments, PETRA 2018, Corfu, Greece, 26/06/18. https://doi.org/10.1145/3197768.3197779

Basic functionality of a prototype wearable assistive soft exoskeleton for people with gait impairments - a case study. / Graf, Eveline S.; De Eyto, Adam; Sposito, Matteo et al.
Proceedings of the 11th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference, PETRA 2018. Association for Computing Machinery, 2018. p. 202-207 (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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AU - De Eyto, Adam

AU - Sposito, Matteo

AU - Pauli, Carole

AU - O'Sullivan, Leonard

AU - Bauer, Christoph M.

AU - Bottenberg, Eliza

AU - Scherly, Daniel

AU - Erkens, Laura

AU - Wirz, Markus

AU - Ortiz, Jesús

AU - Power, Valerie

AU - Poliero, Tommaso

AU - Henke, René

AU - Brinks, Ger

AU - Stadler, Konrad S.

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N2 - XoSoft is a soft modular wearable assistive exoskeleton for people with mild to moderate gait impairments. It is currently being developed by a European Consortium (www.xosoft.eu) and aims to provide tailored and active lower limb support during ambulation. During development, user-centered design principles were followed in parallel with the aim of providing functional support during gait. A prototype was developed and was tested for practicability, usability, comfort and assistive function (summarized as basic functionality) with a potential end user. The prototype consisted of a garment, electromagnetic clutch-controlled elastic bands supporting knee- and hip flexion and a backpack containing the sensor and actuator control of the system. The participant had experienced a stroke and presented with unilateral impairment of the lower and upper extremities. In testing, he donned and doffed the prototype independently as far as possible, and performed walking trials with the system in both active (powered on) and passive (powered off) modes. Afterwards, the participant rated the perceived pressure and various elements of usability. Results highlighted aspects of the system for improvement during future phases of XoSoft development, and also identified useful aspects of prototype design to be maintained. The basic functionality of XoSoft could be assumed as satisfactory given that it was the first version of a working prototype. The study highlights the benefits of this participatory evaluation design approach in assistive soft robotics development.

AB - XoSoft is a soft modular wearable assistive exoskeleton for people with mild to moderate gait impairments. It is currently being developed by a European Consortium (www.xosoft.eu) and aims to provide tailored and active lower limb support during ambulation. During development, user-centered design principles were followed in parallel with the aim of providing functional support during gait. A prototype was developed and was tested for practicability, usability, comfort and assistive function (summarized as basic functionality) with a potential end user. The prototype consisted of a garment, electromagnetic clutch-controlled elastic bands supporting knee- and hip flexion and a backpack containing the sensor and actuator control of the system. The participant had experienced a stroke and presented with unilateral impairment of the lower and upper extremities. In testing, he donned and doffed the prototype independently as far as possible, and performed walking trials with the system in both active (powered on) and passive (powered off) modes. Afterwards, the participant rated the perceived pressure and various elements of usability. Results highlighted aspects of the system for improvement during future phases of XoSoft development, and also identified useful aspects of prototype design to be maintained. The basic functionality of XoSoft could be assumed as satisfactory given that it was the first version of a working prototype. The study highlights the benefits of this participatory evaluation design approach in assistive soft robotics development.

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Graf ES, De Eyto A, Sposito M, Pauli C, O'Sullivan L, Bauer CM et al. Basic functionality of a prototype wearable assistive soft exoskeleton for people with gait impairments - a case study. In Proceedings of the 11th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference, PETRA 2018. Association for Computing Machinery. 2018. p. 202-207. (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series). doi: 10.1145/3197768.3197779

Basic functionality of a prototype wearable assistive soft exoskeleton for people with gait impairments - a case study

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Keywords

UN SDGs

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