Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability, with 80% of survivors having locomotor impairments. Individuals after stroke typically present with hemiparetic gait, characterized as slow, asymmetric, and inefficient. Our lab has been developing soft wearable cyber-physical sytems, called soft exosuits, that interface with paretic limb after stroke through soft and conformal textile-based structures to assist hemiparetic walking. Soft exosuits transmit mechanical power to human body joints via interaction between functional textiles worn on the body and Bowden cable retraction.

Abstract: Stroke is the major cause of disability in adults in the western world, often resulting in hemiparesis and severe mobility impairments. Recently, rigid exoskeletons have been introduced for clinic-based gait rehabilitation: these systems can apply high levels of assistance, but also introduce kinematic restrictions and significant additional mass to the patient. As such, these devices are well suited to patients with little to no residual mobility (e.g.

Abstract: Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability in the US with approximately 7 million stroke survivors living in the US today and for patients with neurological disorders, it has been shown that limited gait velocity commonly results in walking that is predominantly restricted to the household. Unlike traditional exoskeletons, which contain rigid linkage elements, the vision for this work is for exosuits that use soft materials such as textiles to provide a more conformal, unobtrusive and compliant means to interface to the human body.

ABSTRACT

NSF Project: Programmable Second Skin for Re-Educating Injured Nervous Systems Abstract 2 See also: http://cps-vo.org/node/1813