| 研究課題/領域番号 |
21K17791
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| 研究機関 | 佐賀大学 |
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研究代表者 |
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| 研究期間 (年度) |
2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
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| キーワード | ergonomics / gait analysis / motion analysis / electromyography |
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| 研究実績の概要 |
As technology advances and world population ages, lower-limb exoskeletons are expected to become more widespread. However, there are still substantial barriers in reducing the metabolic cost required for walking using these exoskeletons. Because walking is largely an unconscious and automated activity, users of exoskeletons often do not reduce their muscular activity to benefit from the assistive force provided and adjust their gait in ways that are counterproductive. This research aims to improve our understanding of these barriers to reduce the metabolic costs of walking through controlled experiments with healthy human subjects. It is important to understand the adaptations to these external forces to design exoskeletons that can effectively complement and cooperate with its user human user.
In the first year, the focus was on developing a custom ankle exoskeleton testbed that can provide precise plantarflexion assistance in order to perform the experiments stated above. The ankle exoskeleton testbed needs to have the function to control the torque exerted based on the angle of the ankle as well as other inputs. Additionally, by synchronising the actuators with a motion capture system, the developed exoskeleton is able to provide precisely timed assistance to the participants depending on their gait phase.
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| 現在までの達成度 (区分) |
現在までの達成度 (区分)
3: やや遅れている
理由
The initial plan was to complete the development of the custom ankle exoskeleton testbed in the first year. However, this is requiring more time than expected. Due to the difficulties and delays in acquiring some semiconductor and industrial components caused by COVID-19, the system had to be changed multiple times. This has led to further delays due to the need to ensure that the different components could fit together and interoperate. Additionally, designing an ankle exoskeleton that is lightweight and compact enough to allow participants to walk naturally and be adjustable (same device to be used by all participants) without assistance was more challenging than expected. Because the exoskeleton used in the experiment can significantly affect the results obtained, careful considerations need to be made when designing the exoskeleton.
In an attempt to make up for the delays, a related study where the assistive force is provided from a walker, which will be used to inform the study designs, hypotheses, and experiment protocols of future studies, was performed and published.
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| 今後の研究の推進方策 |
The current plan is to complete the ankle exoskeleton and the experiment setup by the middle of the second year. Once the experiment equipment are ready, experiment 1, which was planned to be completed by the end of the second year, will be conducted as soon as possible in order to make up for the current delays. The focus remains to improve our understanding of the factors preventing a user from reducing their muscular activity when assistive forces are provided during walking. By varying the walking task/instruction as well as the parameters of assistance provided, I hope to gain insights into ways to improve the effectiveness of exoskeletons.
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| 次年度使用額が生じた理由 |
Due to the difficulties and delays in acquiring some components caused by COVID-19.as well as some unexpected challenges associated with designing of the exoskeleton testbed, there were delays in finalising the design of the device and this has to delays in the ordering and delivery of the parts to develop the testbed. Hence, the portion of the funds allocated for the first year will be used in the second year.
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