Background Information
Musculoskeletal conditions [1], which are injuries involving joints, ligaments, muscles, and nerves, are one of the main concerns with an aging Canadian population [2]–[4]. Musculoskeletal conditions diminish the quality of life and well-being of those who suffer from it, especially those who suffer from chronic musculoskeletal conditions resulting in long-term disability and pain [5], [6]. Surgical care, such as total knee replacement surgery [7], should only be used as a last resort when other nonsurgical treatment options are no longer helpful. Therefore, ideal rehabilitation and management for musculoskeletal conditions should be a combination of non-surgical interventions[8], such as exercise [9], medication [10], physical therapy [11], and assistive technology [12]. Body-worn assistive technology[13] is promising to minimize risks of musculoskeletal injuries and enhance rehabilitation[14]. The current state-of-the-art assistive technologies are exoskeletons [15] and braces [16], which are often expensive to manufacture for tailored needs [17], aesthetically unpleasing [18], and uncomfortable for prolonged wear [19]. Hence, it is urgent to develop better assistive technology regarding functionality and aesthetics to minimize the impacts of musculoskeletal conditions on people’s lives.
Soft robotics [20] is an emerging field with promising potentials for a new paradigm regarding body-worn assistive technology. The major advantage of soft robots over exoskeletons and braces lies in its compliance, which allows for tailored conformability to the body while providing movement assistance via fluidic pressurization of soft actuators (i.e. mini air balloons) [21] or cable-pulley actuation [22]. Soft robots are also economical as they can be manufactured through 3D printing [23] and integrated with fabrics allowing for low cost tailored devices [24], [25]. The current generation of soft robots have limitations to be body-worn as they are tethered to an external power source [26], [27]. The efficiency of the current generation soft robots is also low due to large internal volume pneumatic actuators [24], [28]. The proposed research will develop novel soft wearable robots using air microfluidic approaches to increase the efficiency, improve the functionality, and enable miniaturization of the fluidic control and transportation hardware.
Objective and Hypothesis
The ultimate goal of this applied research is to develop functional, affordable, light, and aesthetically pleasing apparel that can be worn daily to improve the mobility and the quality of life of individuals suffering from musculoskeletal conditions by minimizing risks of injuries, enhancing rehabilitation, and maximizing comfort. The technology behind the apparels is air microfluidics, air minifluidics, and soft wearable robotics. It is hypothesized that air microfluidics will allow the miniaturization of the fluid pressurization system resulting in efficient power usage for prolonged wear with comfort and good aesthetics, and allow the soft wearable robots to be more functional by enabling millisecond actuation to minimize the risks of injuries and meet the demand for physical movement.
The success of a piece of technology highly depends on whether or not the technology is designed to answer the right questions, which often cannot be adequately defined by the technology developers alone, especially in the multidisciplinary field of soft robotics. Therefore, this project was initiated through close collaborations with Profs. Monica Maly and Clark Dickerson from Kinesiology, who have direct experiences with patients who suffer from musculoskeletal conditions.
Reference
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