Wall climbing robots can be used to undertake missions in many unstructured environments.However,current wall climbing robots have mobility difficulties such as in the turning or accelarating.One of the main reasons f...Wall climbing robots can be used to undertake missions in many unstructured environments.However,current wall climbing robots have mobility difficulties such as in the turning or accelarating.One of the main reasons for the limitations is the poor flexibility of the spines.Soft robotic technology can actively enable structure deformation and stiffness varations,which provides a solution for the design of active flexible spines.This research utilizes pneumatic soft actuators to design a flexible spine with the abilities of actively bending and twisting by each joint.Using bending and torsion moment equilibriums,respectively,from air pressure to material deformations,the bending and twisting models for a single actuator with respect to different pressure are obtained.The theoretical models are verified by finite-element method simulations and experimental tests.In addition,the bending and twisiting motions of single joint and whole spine are analytically modeled.The results show that the bionic spine can perform desired deformations in accordance with the applied pressure on specified chambers.The variations of the stiffness are also numerically assessed.Finally,the effectiveness of the bionic flexible spine for actively producing sequenced motions as biological spine is experimentally validated.This work demonstrated that the peneumatic spine is potential to improve the spine flexibility of wall climbing robot.展开更多
Paraplegic gait orthosis has been shown to help paraplegic patients stand and walk, although this method cannot be individualized for patients with different spinal cord injuries and functional recovery of the lower e...Paraplegic gait orthosis has been shown to help paraplegic patients stand and walk, although this method cannot be individualized for patients with different spinal cord injuries and functional recovery of the lower extremities. There is, however, a great need to develop individualized paraplegic orthosis to improve overall quality of life for paraplegic patients. In the present study, 36 spinal cord（below T4） injury patients were equally and randomly divided into control and observation groups. The control group received systematic rehabilitation training, including maintenance of joint range of motion, residual muscle strength training, standing training, balance training, and functional electrical stimulation. The observation group received an individualized paraplegic locomotion brace and functional training according to the various spinal cord injury levels and muscle strength based on comprehensive systematic rehabilitation training. After 3 months of rehabilitation training, the observation group achieved therapeutic locomotion in 8 cases, family-based locomotion in 7 cases, and community-based locomotion in 3 cases. However, locomotion was not achieved in any of the control group patients. These findings suggest that individualized paraplegic braces significantly improve activity of daily living and locomotion in patients with thoracolumbar spinal cord injury.展开更多
基金the Foundation Research Project of Jiangsu Province Natural Science Fund(No.BK20190415).
文摘Wall climbing robots can be used to undertake missions in many unstructured environments.However,current wall climbing robots have mobility difficulties such as in the turning or accelarating.One of the main reasons for the limitations is the poor flexibility of the spines.Soft robotic technology can actively enable structure deformation and stiffness varations,which provides a solution for the design of active flexible spines.This research utilizes pneumatic soft actuators to design a flexible spine with the abilities of actively bending and twisting by each joint.Using bending and torsion moment equilibriums,respectively,from air pressure to material deformations,the bending and twisting models for a single actuator with respect to different pressure are obtained.The theoretical models are verified by finite-element method simulations and experimental tests.In addition,the bending and twisiting motions of single joint and whole spine are analytically modeled.The results show that the bionic spine can perform desired deformations in accordance with the applied pressure on specified chambers.The variations of the stiffness are also numerically assessed.Finally,the effectiveness of the bionic flexible spine for actively producing sequenced motions as biological spine is experimentally validated.This work demonstrated that the peneumatic spine is potential to improve the spine flexibility of wall climbing robot.
文摘Paraplegic gait orthosis has been shown to help paraplegic patients stand and walk, although this method cannot be individualized for patients with different spinal cord injuries and functional recovery of the lower extremities. There is, however, a great need to develop individualized paraplegic orthosis to improve overall quality of life for paraplegic patients. In the present study, 36 spinal cord（below T4） injury patients were equally and randomly divided into control and observation groups. The control group received systematic rehabilitation training, including maintenance of joint range of motion, residual muscle strength training, standing training, balance training, and functional electrical stimulation. The observation group received an individualized paraplegic locomotion brace and functional training according to the various spinal cord injury levels and muscle strength based on comprehensive systematic rehabilitation training. After 3 months of rehabilitation training, the observation group achieved therapeutic locomotion in 8 cases, family-based locomotion in 7 cases, and community-based locomotion in 3 cases. However, locomotion was not achieved in any of the control group patients. These findings suggest that individualized paraplegic braces significantly improve activity of daily living and locomotion in patients with thoracolumbar spinal cord injury.
