Wearable Technologies

In Transit: Roam and Apparent Wind interaction design concepts

by Teresa Almeida

TEI’11, Work-in-Progress Workshop
Jan 23–26, 2011, Madeira, Funchal, Portugal.

In this paper I present a series of concept designs that address modes of ecological transportation: concerned with... more In this paper I present a series of concept designs that address modes of ecological transportation: concerned with the urban ecology, these are portable devices design proposals for a public bus and body-devices for bicyclists. Could these promote a better understanding of the urban natural systems and therefore encourage ecological activities within a community? This project refers to ongoing research which aim is to develop engaged and poetic technology-enabled artifacts that might contribute to the adoption of sustainable means of transportation. The following are discussed: a set of devices that intend to provide young riders in a public bus with tools to establish a closer contact with the environment and wildlife; a collection of body-devices designed for bicyclists that are accessories which reveal the wind catch while roaming about.

Erasing Environment: The Soldier of the Future and Utopian Smart Textiles

by Kirsty Robertson

Scapegoat: Landscape, Architecture, Political Economy issue 2 (Winter 2012), pp. 15-16.

Sensors in a sleeve register a wound and the fabric tightens, forming a tourniquet; anthrax spores bond to the... more Sensors in a sleeve register a wound and the fabric tightens, forming a tourniquet; anthrax spores bond to the polymers of manufactured fibers, protecting the wearer from infection and disease; a soldier wearing a technologically-enhanced uniform communicates with satellites. This paper looks at the multi-billion dollar industry of military and medical textile creation – a competitive world of multi-national experimentation and innovation that ranges from the mundane to the bizarre. Capital flows openly into this world from government and private sources, all pouring funding in to a soft arms race, characterized by attempts to protect soldiers from their immediate environments (of IEDs or hot temperatures, for example) and medical patients from the inevitable (infection, decay, death).  Drawing on a personal experience of “accidentally” being invited to a Canadian government-organized Soldier of the Future brainstorming session at Chateau Laurier (in Ottawa), this essay begins by exploring industry attempts to “erase environment” while preserving the humanity of the soldier. The article then veers off into the imaginative and experimental using a series of art projects that situate themselves at the overlap of human, military and technological geographies to ask what it might it mean to repurpose military garb from the lo-tech to the high-tech for ultimately different purposes – revealing the humanity of the wearer while exposing the contingency and constructedness of surrounding environments.

Oscillator-based walking assistance: A model-free approach

by Maria Chiara Carrozza

Med Biol Eng Comput DOI 10.1007/s11517-011-0816-1

In this article, we propose a new method for providing assistance during cyclical movements. This method is... more In this article, we propose a new method for providing assistance during cyclical movements. This method is trajectory-free, in the sense that it provides user assistance irrespective of the performed movement, and requires no other sensing than the assisting robot’s own encoders. The approach is based on adaptive oscillators, i.e., mathematical tools that are capable of learning the high level features (frequency, envelope, etc.) of a periodic input signal. Here we present two experiments that we recently conducted to validate our approach: a simple sinusoidal movement of the elbow, that we designed as a proof-of-concept, and a walking experiment. In both cases, we collected evidence illustrating that our approach indeed assisted healthy subjects during movement execution. Owing to the intrinsic periodicity of daily life movements involving the lower-limbs, we postulate that our approach holds promise for the design of innovative rehabilitation

Human-robot synchrony: flexible assistance using adaptive oscillators

by Maria Chiara Carrozza

Ieee Transactions On Biomedical Engineering - 58(4) : 1001:1012 (2011)

We propose a novel method for movement assistance that is based on adaptive oscillators, i.e., mathematical tools that... more We propose a novel method for movement assistance that is based on adaptive oscillators, i.e., mathematical tools that are capable of extracting the high-level features (amplitude, fre- quency, and offset) of a periodic signal. Such an oscillator acts like a filter on these features, but keeps its output in phase with respect to the input signal. Using a simple inverse model, we predicted the torque produced by human participants during rhythmic flexion– extension of the elbow. Feeding back a fraction of this estimated torque to the participant through an elbow exoskeleton, we were able to prove the assistance efficiency through a marked decrease of the biceps and triceps electromyography. Importantly, since the os- cillator adapted to the movement imposed by the user, the method flexibly allowed us to change the movement pattern and was still ef- ficient during the nonstationary epochs. This method holds promise for the development of new robot-assisted rehabilitation protocols because it does not require prespecifying a reference trajectory and does not require complex signal sensing or single-user cal- ibration: the only signal that is measured is the position of the augmented joint. In this paper, we further demonstrate that this as- sistance was very intuitive for the participants who adapted almost instantaneously.

Mechatronic Design and Characterization of the Index Finger Module of a Hand Exoskeleton for Post-stroke Rehabilitation

by Maria Chiara Carrozza

IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS

This paper presents HANDEXOS, a novel wearable multiphalanges device for post-stroke rehabilitation. It was de- signed... more This paper presents HANDEXOS, a novel wearable multiphalanges device for post-stroke rehabilitation. It was de- signed in order to allow for a functional and safe interaction with the user’s hand by means of an anthropomorphic kinematics and the minimization of the human/exoskeleton rotational axes mis- alignment. This paper describes the mechatronic design of the exoskeleton’s index finger module, simulation, modeling, and de- velopment of the actuation unit and sensory system. Experimental results on the validation of the dynamic model and experimental characterization of the index finger module with healthy subjects are reported, showing promising results that encourage further clinical trials.

Flexible Assistance using Adaptive Oscillators: Model-based and Model-free Approaches

by Maria Chiara Carrozza

Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing (2011)

n this article, we propose a new method for providing assistance during cyclical movements. This method is... more n this article, we propose a new method for providing assistance during cyclical movements. This method is trajectory-free, in the sense that it provides user assistance irrespective of the performed movement, and requires no other sensing than the assisting robot’s own encoders. The approach is based on adaptive oscillators, i.e., mathematical tools that are capable of learning the high level features (frequency, envelope, etc.) of a periodic input signal. Here we present two experiments that we recently conducted to validate our approach: a simple sinusoidal movement of the elbow, that we designed as a proof-of-concept, and a walking experiment. In both cases, we collected evidence illustrating that our approach indeed assisted healthy subjects during movement execution. Owing to the intrinsic periodicity of daily life movements involving the lower-limbs, we postulate that our approach holds promise for the design of innovative rehabilitation

NEUROExos: a variable impedance powered elbow exoskeleton

by Maria Chiara Carrozza

This paper introduces NEUROExos, an elbow powered exoskeleton for rehabilitation. The NEUROExos is provided with three... more This paper introduces NEUROExos, an elbow powered exoskeleton for rehabilitation. The NEUROExos is provided with three novel characteristics which address the major problems arising in rehabilitation robotics. A double shell link structure allows for a comfortable human-robot interaction, while a 4-DOF passive mechanism gives a perfect kinematic compatibility with the user. Moreover, NEUROExos is powered by a variable impedance antagonistic actuator, which provides the exoskeleton with a software-controllable passive compliance. We present the main characteristics of the exoskeleton, with a focus on the actuation and control of the platform. Additionally, results on a healthy subject show the relevance of this design during a prototypical rehabilitation task.

Measuring human―robot interaction on wearable robots: A distributed approach

by Maria Chiara Carrozza

Tommaso Lenzi, Nicola Vitiello, Stefano Marco Maria De Rossi et al. (2011) Measuring human–robot interaction on wearable robots: A distributed approach

This paper presents a novel, distributed approach to monitor physical interaction between a user and a wearable robot.... more This paper presents a novel, distributed approach to monitor physical interaction between a user and a wearable robot. We propose to apply a matrix of optoelectronic sensors embedded in a thin and compliant silicone bulk onto the user-robot contact surface. This distributed tactile sensor can measure the pressure distribution on the interaction area without affecting the comfort of the user, and does not require the robot to be specifically designed to house it. Besides the estimation of the interaction force/torque, the distributed approach allows to monitor the pressure on the user’s skin. This information is fundamental to assess the comfort and safety of the users which determine the final acceptability of the robot-mediated rehabilitation. The proposed method is preliminary evaluated on an elbow active orthosis during a repetitive rehabilitation task. Experimental results prove the relevance of this approach for the detection of the user motion intention through a measurement of the interaction force distribution.

Urban Empathy: Work in Progress

by Teresa Almeida

Disseminating knowledge of electronic textiles at art schools and universities

by Valérie Lamontagne

Co-authored with:

Melissa Coleman
Michel Peeters
Linda Worbin
Marina Toeters

This paper aims to give an impression of how knowledge of e-textiles is shared in art schools and universities. With... more This paper aims to give an impression of how knowledge of e-textiles is shared in art schools and universities. With this paper we intend to create a context for future reflections on e-textiles education and knowledge dissemination for educators in this field. We hope to stimulate knowledge sharing on e-textiles between institutes and with the e-textiles community at large by identifying opportunities for open learning.

Wearing emotions: physical representation and visualization of human emotions using wearable technologies

by Salvatore Iaconesi

co-authored with Luca Simeone, published in IEEE Proceeedings : 2010 14th International Conference Information Visualisation 

An interesting loop can be created by representing and visualizing human emotions using wearable technologies.... more An interesting loop can be created by representing and visualizing human emotions using wearable technologies. Emotions visualized using electronic devices that are worn on the body can create an enhanced skin that can be used to activate cognitive processes that are relevant to social communication, knowledge dissemination, education and, extending horizons, to the interaction with architectures, spaces, people, objects and the general environment. Here we investigate on the possibility to use emotion classification and representation methodologies to create designs and to enact dynamics that are significant from cognitive, ethnographic and psychologic perspectives.

DEVELOPMENT OF INEXPENSIVE MOTION ANALYSIS SYSTEM – PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

by Chong Yu Zheng