Harvard College

Children's Medical Center Corporation

The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Boston University

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Inc.

Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Conor James Walsh

Robert J Wood

Alan Thomas Asbeck

Ignacio Galiana Bujanda

Ye Ding

Panagiotis Polygerinos

Zivthan Dubrovsky

Kathleen Elizabeth O'Donnell

Diana A Wagner

Kevin Galloway

Ellen T Roche

Michael Wehner

Robert J Dyer

Pedro J Del Nido

Michael Karpelson

Paxton H Maeder-York

Ryan A Neff

Samuel Kesner

Stefano Marco Maria De Rossi

Donal Holland

Tyler Clites

Emily Marie Boggs

Sangjun Lee

Arnar Freyr Larusson

Brendan Thomas Quinlivan

Kai Schmidt

Joshua B Gafford

David J Mooney

Jeffrey Michael Karp

Carmel Majidi

Jon I Einarsson

William Patrick Burke

Yuhan Lee

Alexander Isakov

Steven Charles Wasserman

Yong-Lae Park

Yigit Menguc

Michael J Smith

Assunta Fabozzo

Radhika Nagpal

Oluwaseun A Araromi

Kimberly Murdaugh

Dmitry Popov

Nathan Phipps

Danielle L Nathanson

Lucia R Schuster

Bor-rong Chen

Leia Stirling

Ingeborg Friehs

Evelyn J Park

Diana Young

Ciaran O'Neill

Benjamin I Goldberg

Hugh Miller Herr

Kenneth Alan Pasch

Nikolay V Vasilyev

Georg N Duda

Herman H Vandenburgh

Daniel Joseph Paluska

Sang-Eun Song

Eugene C Goldfield

Kenneth G Holt

Nicholas W Bartlett

Tommaso Ranzani

Sheila Russo

Stephanie Hsiang-Ting Liu

Daniel E Lieberman

Steven Obiajulu

Frank A Pigula

Ajith Thomas

Hao Pei

Matthew W Yarri

Kechao Xiao

Jillian Christine Cochran

Paul Loschak

Jinsoo Kim

Myunghee Kim

Scott Kuindersma

Christopher J Siviy

Tiffany L Wong

Asa M Eckert-Erdheim

Ryan Gulland

Alex Beaudette

Jaehyun Bae

Michael T Rouleau

Jinwon Chung

Tonatiuh M Lievano Beltran

Tim-Fabian Moser

Ata Kiapour

Nicolas Menard

Rachel M Granberry

Timothy Walsh

Nikhil Mehandru

Erik A Kraus

Andrew Valiente

Isaac Wamala

William Grand

Christine A Cezar

Markus Horvath

Wearable devices protect against musculoskeletal injuries and enhance performance. Systems and methods provide wearable devices to assist with human motion during physical activities, such as performing movements (e.g., lifting) and holding static poses (e.g., crouching, or holding a tool while working overhead). Materials, constructions, and system architectures allow the wearable devices to be worn over, under, or integrated into clothing for extended periods of time to improve performance or reduce risk of injury. Sensors may be included in the wearable devices to detect various activities, motions, and postures of the wearer, and various active and semi-active controls approaches may leverage sensor information to provide tailored assistance to individual users. Various controls optimization techniques ensure the wearable devices operate at peak efficiency.

Wearable devices for protecting against musculoskeletal injuries and enhancing performance

A soft brace to prevent injury to one or more target joints or body segments is disclosed. The soft brace includes one or more tensile elements configured to limit motion of one or more target joints based on placement of the one or more tensile elements relative to the one or more target joints such that the placement and tension of each of the one or more tensile elements provides resistance against motion of the one or more target joints; one or more soft tissue anchors positioned on a body around the one or more target joints, the one or more anchors being configured to anchor one or more of the one or more tensile elements to the body to provide force distribution relative to the one or more target joints; and wherein at least one of the one or more tensile elements is routed in parallel with the approximate center of rotation of at least one of the one or more target joints.

Soft braces to prevent injury to a joint or body segment

A multi-segment reinforced actuator includes (a) a soft actuator body that defines a chamber and (b) a plurality of distinct reinforcement structures on or in respective segments of the soft actuator body. First and second reinforcement structures are respectively configured to produce a first and second actuation motions, respectively, in first and second segments of the soft actuator body when fluid flows into or out of the chamber. The actuation motions are selected bending, extending, expansion, contraction, twisting, and combinations thereof; and the first actuation motion differs from the second actuation motion. The actuator can be used, e.g., to facilitate bending of the thumb with corresponding bending, extending, expansion, contraction, and twisting actuation motions.

Wearable device including a sensor-actuated soft actuator and method for actuation

A textile actuator and harness system can include a harness configured to be worn with a portion extending across a wearer's joint. The harness comprises a substantially inextensible section and at least two mounting locations spaced for positioning across the joint, with at least one located along the substantially inextensible section of the harness. A textile envelope defines a chamber and is made fluid-impermeable by (a) a fluid-impermeable bladder contained in the textile envelope and/or (b) a fluid-impermeable structure incorporated into the textile envelope. The textile envelope is secured to the harness at each mounting location, and the textile envelope has a pre-determined geometry configured to produce assistance to the joint due to inflation of the textile envelope during a relative increase in pressure inside the chamber.

Textile actuator and harness system

A textile actuator worn by a user comprises a textile envelope that defines a chamber made fluid-impermeable by a fluid-impermeable bladder contained in the textile envelope and/or a fluid-impermeable structure incorporated into the textile envelope. The textile envelope has a pre-determined geometry that produces an equilibrium state at a non-180-angle displacement and that stops further displacement upon pressurization of the chamber and prevents over-extension the joint. A fluid is delivered into or out of the chamber to displace the textile envelope primarily by transitioning from an uninflated state to the pre-determined geometry due to displacement of the textile envelope rather than via stretching or contraction of the textile envelope. When actuated, the textile actuator (a) displaces a body segment of the user and/or (b) supports and holds the body segment of the user in place.

Textile actuators

A system for quantification of exercise and physical therapy includes an anchoring module and an electronics module. The anchoring module is removably attached to an object (e.g., a flexible resistive band) or equipped with a clamping mechanism for removably securing the object. The anchoring module also includes an anchoring-module coupling fixture. At least one of the modules includes a sensor (e.g., a force sensor) configured to generate a signal representative of a user's performance during exercise or physical therapy; a processor configured to receive signals from the force sensor; a computer storage medium storing software code and in communication with the processor, wherein the software code includes instruction for processing the signals from the force sensor to quantify the performance; and at least one electronics-module coupling fixture configured to secure the electronics module to the anchoring module coupling fixture.

System and method for quantification of exercise and physical therapy

A strain sensor comprising a conductive member having a plurality of elements arranged adjacent to one another, and a non-conductive and elastically deformable material encapsulating the conductive member, wherein, in an equilibrium state, compressive forces cause at least one of the plurality of elements to contact at least a portion of an adjacent element, and wherein, when a strain is applied, a resulting elastic deformation causes at least one of the plurality of elements to space apart from an adjacent element such that the contacted portion decreases or is eliminated. A multi-axis force sensor comprising a sensing array comprising at least two planar sensors arranged radially on a planar substrate in antagonistic pairs, and a compressible member positioned between the substrate and a central portion of the sensing array, the compressible member acting to displace the central portion of the sensing array away from the substrate.

Ultra-sensitive compliant strain sensors

An insertable catheter device includes a shaft including a proximal end and a distal end, an expandable balloon, and an actuator configured to expand and retract the expandable balloon. The actuator includes a fluid conduit that extends through the shaft and is coupled with the expandable balloon to enable inflation and retraction of the expandable balloon via injection or withdrawal of a fluid to or from the expandable balloon via the fluid conduit. The expandable balloon is displaceably retractable into the shaft and extendable from the shaft. A fluid pump is coupled with the fluid conduit to pump the fluid through the fluid conduit. A patch is positioned to be displaced by the expandable balloon when the expandable balloon is inflated, and the expandable balloon is displaceably retractable into the shaft and displaceably extendable from the shaft.

Insertable catheter device for patch application

A flexible anchor member comprising a member for placement about a body part; at least one substantially inextensible textile element circumscribing the member and secured to itself or the member; and a force transfer coupler coupling a portion of the at least one substantially inextensible textile element to an actuator such that the substantially inextensible textile element constricts about the member for a duration of an applied force. Another flexible anchor member comprising an outer member including a substantially inextensible textile material configured for directing a force applied by an actuator to act upon all or a portion of the body part; an inner member for positioning between the body part and the outer member, a first surface of the inner member configured for frictionally engaging the body part or intervening clothing; and at least one coupler for coupling the outer member and the inner member.

Flexible members for anchoring to the body

A wearable system includes an exosuit or exoskeleton; an actuator(s) configured to generate force in the exosuit or exoskeleton; a sensor(s) configured to measure information for evaluating an objective function associated with providing physical assistance to the wearer, an interaction between the wearer and the exosuit or exoskeleton, and/or an operation of the exosuit or exoskeleton; and a controller(s) configured to: actuate the actuator(s) according to an actuation profile(s), evaluate the objective function based on the information measured by the at least one sensor to determine a resulting change in the objective function, adjust a parameter(s) of the actuation profile(s) based on the resulting change in the objective function, and continue to actuate, evaluate, and adjust to optimize the actuation parameter(s) for maximizing or minimizing the objective function. Wearable systems configured to assist or promote an improvement in the wearer's gait and optimized using a gradient descent or Bayesian approach.

Controls optimization for wearable systems

In at least one aspect, there is provided a system for generating force about one or more joints including a soft exosuit having a plurality of anchor elements and at least one connection element disposed between the plurality of anchor elements. The system also includes at least one sensor to determine a force the at least one connection element or at least one of the plurality of anchor elements and to output signals relating to the force, at least one actuator configured to change a tension in the soft exosuit and at least one controller configured to receive the signals output from the at least one sensor and actuate the at least one actuator responsive to the received signals.

Soft exosuit for assistance with human motion

Systems and methods for providing assistance with human motion, including hip and ankle motion, are disclosed. Sensor feedback is used to determine an appropriate profile for actuating a wearable robotic system to deliver desired joint motion assistance. Variations in user kinetics and kinematics, as well as construction, materials, and fit of the wearable robotic system, are considered in order to provide assistance tailored to the user and current activity.

A multi-layer, super-planar laminate structure can be formed from distinctly patterned layers. The layers in the structure can include at least one rigid layer and at least one flexible layer; the rigid layer includes a plurality of rigid segments, and the flexible layer can extend between the rigid segments to serve as a joint. The layers are then stacked and bonded at selected locations to form a laminate structure with inter-layer bonds, and the laminate structure is flexed at the flexible layer between rigid segments to produce an expanded three-dimensional structure, wherein the layers are joined at the selected bonding locations and separated at other locations. A layer with electrical wiring can be included in the structure for delivering electric current to devices on or in the laminate structure.

Pop-up laminate structures with integrated electronics

In at least some aspects, the present concepts include a method for configuring an assistive flexible suit including the acts of outfitting a person with an assistive flexible suit, monitoring an output of at least one sensor of the assistive flexible suit as the person moves in a first controlled movement environment, identifying at least one predefined gait event using the output of the at least one sensor, adjusting an actuation profile of the at least one actuator and continuing to perform the acts of monitoring, identifying and adjusting until an actuation profile of the at least one actuator generates a beneficial moment about the at least one joint to promote an improvement in gait. The at least one controller is then set to implement the actuation profile.

Assistive flexible suits, flexible suit systems, and methods for making and control thereof to assist human mobility

Growing community of inventors

Cambridge, MA, United States of America

Conor James Walsh