RESEARCH
Assistive and Rehabilitation
Robotics Lab
RESEARCH
Assistive and Rehabilitation
Robotics Lab
Soft Wearable Robots
We are developing next-generation soft wearable robots that use innovative textiles to provide unobtrusive and compliant interface to the human body. These robots will augment the capabilities of healthy individuals (e.g. improved walking efficiency) in addition to assisting those with muscle weakness or patients who suffer from physical or neurological disorders. As compared to a traditional exoskeleton, these systems have several advantages: the wearer's joints are unconstrained by external rigid structures, and the worn part of the suit is extremely light. These properties minimize the suit's unintentional interference with the body's natural biomechanics and allow for more synergistic interaction with the wearer. Moreover, we are stretching the application of robot assistance to extreme scenarios, such as high-speed sprinting.
A soft exosuit for gait assistance is rebooted with advanced technologies. The CAU exosuit contains pulley embedded type compact actuators with more accurate and versatile assistive strategies. In addition, the all-in-one suit design integrating all electronic components further improves usability, even wearing under daily clothing. With this robot, we aim to provide assistance not only for daily uses, but also for the elderly and rehabilitation purposes.
Gait disorders like scissor gait and crouch gait often result from issues with multi-plane muscle activity, highlighting the need for 3-Dimensional assistance. We are working on a way to generate 3D assistive torque, providing support for individuals who require multi-dimensional assistance. Currently, the goal is to characterize multi-dimensional assistive pathway based on changes in the anchor point locations, which will help develop effective assistance strategies in the future.
We are developing an exosuit that supports high-speed sprinting. Contrast to traditional trend on the research of wearable assistance that focuses on reducing the energy expenditure, we are trying to enhance the performance limit of human capabilities.
With a goal of enabling users to break their personal records, we focus on high performance actuators, sophisticated control algorithms, and lightweight design as core technologies.
The sprint-assisting exosuit represents the forefront of wearable robot technology, opening new possibilities beyond human limit.