Mechatronics for Human Assistance

Mechatronics for Human Assistance

Introduction

In this research, a networked mobile assistive system (NMAS) that integrates a physical assistive device with a high-speed wireless body sensor network is proposed. The proposed system provides a complete and active health care system to benefit the users (e.g. elderly people, patients with Parkinson’s disease and stroke) and improve the management strategy of the health care provider (hospitals, physical therapists). Various research topics are under investigation, including sensor and actuator design, human motion capture and analysis, control of the rehabilitation device over real-time wireless network, and clinical test of the wireless human motion monitoring system. This is a joint research project with computer science researchers from University of Texas, Austin (UTA) and physical therapists from University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

 

System Structure and Hardware

Structure of the NMAS (two computers and two networks; internet to connect therapists and patients; a local wireless network to connect local computer and all local devices.)

Hardware developed for the NMAS (upper left: wireless joint angle sensor; lower left: smart shoes for gait detection; right: compact rotary elastic actuator for knee joint assistance)

 

Research Topics

Development of Smart Shoes
Development of Wireless Joint Angle Sensor
Passive Exoskeleton Design for Human Motion Analysis
Design and Control of a Compact Rotary Series Elastic Actuator (cRSEA)
Control of the cRSEA over Wireless Network

 

Researchers

Wenlong Zhang	Graduate Student	Email
Chen-Yu Chan	Graduate Student	Email	Homepage
Kan Kanjanapas	Graduate Student	Email
Recent graduates:
Joonbum Bae	UNIST, Korea	Email	Homepage
Kyoungchul Kong	Sogang University, Korea	Email	Homepage

 

Sponsor

National Science Foundation (NSF)