Wearable Soft Robotics for Independent Living

This project addresses the growing healthcare needs of people to live independently with dignity. There are 10.8 million disabled people living in the UK today (Office for Disability Issues 2010). Nearly 6.5 million have mobility impairments; 6 million have an impairment of lifting and carrying; 2.4 million have impaired co-ordination. Many of these people are supplied with assistive and rehabilitative technologies (ART), but much ART has low user acceptability and concordance, and may have a negative impact on people's perceived dignity. Many people do not use ART correctly, or at all, and many people find ART devices undignified. In extreme cases ill-fitting or ill-prescribed ART may even cause injury or increase disability. The consequence of this lack of effective and acceptable ART is that people living with mobility impairments are more prone to conditions such as poor circulation, skin pressure damage and falls. Each of these conditions has an enormous public health implication and together they constitute a substantial drain on health and social care resources. The cost of falls to the NHS is £2Bn, skin pressure damage £2.1Bn, and the overall cost of stroke to health and social care services and the loss of income is £9.8Bn.

This project will be the first time that emerging soft robotics technologies are employed to address multiple rehabilitation and health care needs in one single class of wearable device, enabling effective and comfortable rehabilitation, functional restoration and long term assisted living. In contrast to conventional rigid robotics, the inherent physical compatibility of soft robotics with biological tissue and human motion means that truly adaptive assistive and rehabilitative technologies (or aART) can be realised. Soft robotic aART has the potential to be the ubiquitous, low cost and highly adaptable technology that transforms independent living for the disabled and infirm.
The exciting challenge of this project is to develop the fundamental soft robot technologies needed to deliver wearable soft robotic assistive clothing and devices that are: 1. Effective in respect to a patient and their clinical need; 2. Easy to use; and, 3. Highly adaptable. The outcome of this project will be two fully tested soft robotic wearable demonstrator devices.

This proposal fits directly into the Engineering Healthcare Technologies research area. It addresses the need to optimise smart materials and soft robotics through fundamental research targeted directly at transformative healthcare. It contains not only the development of novel soft-smart sensor-actuator materials, 3D structures and additive layer manufacturing, but also their accelerated translation to application through novel compliant mechanisms, integrated design and demonstration device development. This proposal will significantly expand our understanding of the capabilities of these technologies and the functionalization and modification needed to further increase their suitability for assist applications. The proposal will contribute to addressing the EPSRC healthcare strategy of shaping capability through the funding of this multi-disciplinary and transformative project that focuses on the growing UK strength in soft robotic healthcare.
The proposal will deliver significant impact, not only through the overall potential of soft robotic medicine, but in the key areas of ageing, rehabilitation and long-term assistance in the home. It will inform clinical research being led by academic rehabilitation centres in the UK and lead to new technologies being deployed in complex healthcare interventions in the context of phase 1 clinical trials. This project will also stimulate the development of a wider range of assistive technology including smart monitoring devices, communication aids and environmental control systems, all of which would benefit from improved sensing, actuation and control.
The proposed wearable soft robotic assistive devices, encompassing novel characteristics of adaptability, comfort and user acceptability, will enhance and accelerate the rehabilitation of those in need and will have significant emotional and physical impact on both the users and their carers. Users will benefit from improvements in their overall quality of life by participating in more activities and returning to work faster.
The developed soft robotics technologies, encompassing smart materials and active compliant sensors and actuators, will have impact far beyond this project. This will include not only many applications in the healthcare, assist and rehabilitation domain (including devices to aid eating, control hypersalivation or reduce tremor), but also applications in the wider engineering field and in consumer markets. These include soft robotics for rescue, environmental remediation and human-machine interaction. The proposed new methodologies for manufacturing smart materials, soft robotic components and whole 3D devices will not only provide the incumbent design flexibility and device personalisation, but will also act as the crucial enabling technology to facilitate new forms of device functionality. Key characteristics of the materials and fabrication processes will enable highly attractive and transferable capabilities: The generation of controlled planar and non-linear multi-material constructs in order to enable novel actuation and sensory capabilities; Capability to operate with a wide range of relevant and specifically engineered materials (such as conductive, dielectric, piezo-resistive and piezo-electrics materials, and EAPs); The integration of discrete sensors with the required connections and circuitry into, and onto, flexible substrates and their associated interfacial topologies; the design and realisation of highly physically compatible actuators that can bend and twist to match the natural movements of human.

The outcome of this work will be two fully tested demonstrator systems. In addition to the first demonstrations of these new technologies in the clinical and user setting, these will provide opportunities for planned publicity and engagement activities.