User-Centered Design and Development of the Modular TWIN Lower Limb Exoskeleton.

Autor:	Laffranchi M; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., D'Angella S; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., Vassallo C; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., Piezzo C; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., Canepa M; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., De Giuseppe S; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., Di Salvo M; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., Succi A; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., Cappa S; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., Cerruti G; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., Scarpetta S; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., Cavallaro L; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., Boccardo N; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., D'Angelo M; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., Marchese C; Centro Protesi INAIL, Istituto Italiano per l'Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro, Vigorso di Budrio, Italy., Saglia JA; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., Guanziroli E; Villa Beretta Rehabilitation Centre, Valduce Hospital, Costa Masnaga, Italy., Barresi G; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., Semprini M; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., Traverso S; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., Maludrottu S; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy., Molteni F; Villa Beretta Rehabilitation Centre, Valduce Hospital, Costa Masnaga, Italy., Sacchetti R; Centro Protesi INAIL, Istituto Italiano per l'Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro, Vigorso di Budrio, Italy., Gruppioni E; Centro Protesi INAIL, Istituto Italiano per l'Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro, Vigorso di Budrio, Italy., De Michieli L; Rehab Technologies Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	Frontiers in neurorobotics [Front Neurorobot] 2021 Oct 07; Vol. 15, pp. 709731. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Oct 07 (Print Publication: 2021).
DOI:	10.3389/fnbot.2021.709731
Abstrakt:	For decades, powered exoskeletons have been considered for possible employment in rehabilitation and personal use. Yet, these devices are still far from addressing the needs of users. Here, we introduce TWIN, a novel modular lower limb exoskeleton for personal use of spinal-cord injury (SCI) subjects. This system was designed according to a set of user requirements (lightweight and autonomous portability, quick and autonomous donning and setup, stability when standing/walking, cost effectiveness, long battery life, comfort, safety) which emerged during participatory investigations that organically involved patients, engineers, designers, physiatrists, and physical therapists from two major rehabilitation centers in Italy. As a result of this user-centered process, TWIN's design is based on a variety of small mechatronic modules which are meant to be easily assembled and donned on or off by the user in full autonomy. This paper presents the development of TWIN, an exoskeleton for personal use of SCI users, and the application of user-centered design methods that are typically adopted in medical device industry, for its development. We can state that this approach revealed to be extremely effective and insightful to direct and continuously adapt design goals and activities toward the addressment of user needs, which led to the development of an exoskeleton with modular mechatronics and novel lateral quick release systems. Additionally, this work includes the preliminary assessment of this exoskeleton, which involved healthy volunteers and a complete SCI patient. Tests validated the mechatronics of TWIN and emphasized its high potential in terms of system usability for its intended use. These tests followed procedures defined in existing standards in usability engineering and were part of the formative evaluation of TWIN as a premise to the summative evaluation of its usability as medical device. Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. (Copyright © 2021 Laffranchi, D'Angella, Vassallo, Piezzo, Canepa, De Giuseppe, Di Salvo, Succi, Cappa, Cerruti, Scarpetta, Cavallaro, Boccardo, D'Angelo, Marchese, Saglia, Guanziroli, Barresi, Semprini, Traverso, Maludrottu, Molteni, Sacchetti, Gruppioni and De Michieli.)
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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