Challenges and Strategies in the Design and Control of Upper Extremity Exoskeletons
Organizers
Ashish D. Deshpande, PhD (Primary Contact)
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Director of the ReNeu Robotics Lab
University of Texas, Austin
http://www.me.utexas.edu/~reneu/
Marcia O’Malley, PhD
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Director of the MAHI Lab
Rice University
Robert Riener, PhD
Professor in Institute for Robotic and Intelligent Systems
Director of the Sensory-Motor Systems Lab
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich
http://www.sms.hest.ethz.ch/people/directory/rienerr
Keehoon Kim, PhD
Senior Research Scientist
Director of the MARCH Lab
Korea Institute of Science and Technology
http://march.kist.re.kr/member.php
khk@kist.re.kr
Abstract
Over the last three decades a number of upper extremity robotic exoskeletons have been designed for rehabilitation, assistance and power enhancement. These systems wrap around the user’s limbs and either assist or resist the motion depending on the application. Design of robotic exoskeletons is challenging due to the limits on size and weight, and the need to address technical challenges in areas including human biomechanics, rehabilitation, actuation, sensing, and physical human-robot interaction. Another challenge is the control of exoskeleton, which needs to account for the user’s intent and his/her body dynamics. Since the exoskeletons are meant to be in a close physical contact with the subjects, a synergistic approach that accounts for the coupled human-robot system is necessary.
The overall objective of the proposed workshop is to provoke a discussion on the major challenges in designing, building, controlling, and conducting experiments with upper extremity exoskeletons. Design and control of exoskeletons that operate on the upper extremities or limbs (shoulders, arms, wrists and hands) present challenges distinct from those faced with lower extremity exoskeleton. Our goal is to bring together experts from wide ranging fields including design, controls, software and human factors (biomechanics, ergonomics and neuromotor controls) to discuss these challenges and optimal solutions.
Content
Intended Audience:
Researchers interested in sharing knowledge about the design and control of novel upper extremity exoskeletons
Researchers interested in conducting experiments with upper extremity exoskeletons
Researchers interested in exploring research areas for upper extremity exoskeletons
Schedule:
Workshop, full day. The event will consist of interactive talks by the invited speakers (8-12), discussion on sub-topics, sneak preview of posters and poster sessions.
8:30 AM Welcome, Introductions8:45 AM – 9:30 AM2 perspective talks with panel discussion9:30 AM – 10:15 AM2 perspective talks with panel discussion10:15 AM – 10:30 AMCoffee Break10:30 AM – 11:15 AM2 perspective talks with panel discussion11:15 AM – 12:30 PMPoster teasers and poster session12:30 PM – 1:45 PMLunch Break1:45 PM – 2:30 PM2 perspective talks with panel discussion2:30 PM – 3:15 PM2 perspective talks with panel discussion3:15 PM – 3:30 PMCoffee Break3:30 PM – 4:15 PM2 perspective talks with panel discussion4:15 PM – 5:30 PMPoster teasers and poster session5:30 PM – 5:45 PM Discussion and Closing
Invited Speakers:
Speaker
Institution
Status
David Reinkensmeyer
UC Irvine
Confirmed
Lorenzo Masia
NTU, Singapore
Confirmed
Andre Schiele
DLR, Germany
Confirmed
Jun Ueda
Georgia Tech
Confirmed
Volkan Patoglu
Sabanci University
Confirmed
Jacob Rosen
UCLA
Invite sent
Haruhisa Kawasaki
Gifu University, Japan
Invite sent
Derek Kamper
RIC
Invite sent
Satoshi Ito
Gifu University
Invite sent
Peter S. Lum
Catholic University of America
Invite sent
Nikolaos Tsagarakis
IIT, Italy
Confirmed
Sunil Agrawal
Columbia University
Confirmed
Li-Qun Zhang
RIC
Confirmed
Kazuo Kiguchi
Kyushu University, Japan
Raymond K.Y. Tong
Hong Kong Polytechnic
Plan to solicit participation
Robotics Researchers
We (the organizers) have been active in the field of design and control of upper extremity exoskeletons over the last decade and we will send out personal emails to our colleagues in the field with an invitation to participate in the workshop. The organizers are from the US, Europe and Asia which will help in attracting researchers in these three geographical regions with major focus on upper extremity exoskeleton research.
In addition to sending invitation email on the ‘roboticsworldwide’ listserv we will advertise the workshop on ‘rehabrobotics’ and ‘Biomech-L’ to get widespread participation. We will also leverage the supporting TC’s to distribute information about the workshop to potential participants.
Rehabilitation and assistive robotics is an active and growing field. Recently a few meetings have been arranged to gather leading researchers in the field and the proposers have been active in these meetings. Examples include the “International Workshop on Wearable Robotics” and the “ASU Rehabilitation Robotics Workshop.” We will seek participation in our workshop by contacting attendees of these meetings.
Industry
The organizers have contacts in a number of industries who are interested in this topic including General Motors, NASA, Hocomo, German Space Agency, French Space Agency, Meka Robotics (now Google), Ekso Bionics, Myomo, and Parker.
Industry representatives will be invited to attend, and a panel discussion on industry perspective will be incorporated into the schedule pending positive responses from prospective attendees. These invitations will be extended after January 1, 2015. The industry representatives will bring in perspectives on the opportunities and challenges in translating the technologies for upper extremity rehabilitation from research labs to manufacturing and clinical settings.
Biomechanics Researchers and Clinicians
To receive input on human factors we will invite experts from areas including modeling of biomechanics, clinical needs and ergonomic factors. Examples of clinicians include Dr. Gerard Francisco from TIRR-Memorial Hermann hospital and Dr. Michelle Woodbury from the Medical University of South Carolina.
Expected Number of Participants: 60-80
The proposers have hosted a number of workshops on topics related to wearable robots, exoskeletons and rehabilitation robotics including the ones listed below. These workshops have consistently gathered leading experts in the field and have been well attended. For example, in a workshop organized by Deshpande and O’Malley at ICORR 2013 than 60 researchers participated. Given the much larger size of ICRA we expect higher number of participants.
List of Previously Organized Workshops by the Proposers:
- Co-organizer of a Workshop at the IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), 2013 on ‘Design and Control of Robotic Exoskeletons with Compliant Joints and Actuation Systems’, http://depts.washington.edu/uwconf/icorr2013/robotic_exoskeletons.html
- Co-organizer of Special Sessions at ASME Dynamics Systems and Controls Conference, 2013 on ‘Human Assistive Systems and Wearable Robots: Applications and Assessment’, and ‘Human Assistive Systems and Wearable Robots: Design and Control’
- Co-organizer of a Workshop at the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2013 on ‘Healthcare Robotics and Wearable Systems’, http://biorobotics.gatech.edu/iros2013healthcarerobotics/
- Co-organizer of a Workshop at IEEE International Conference of Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2014 on ‘Human Modeling and Control for Assistive Technologies’ http://www.bsys.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/~kurita/icra2014web/ICRA2014Workshop.htm
- Co-organizer of a Workshop at Eurohaptics 2014 on “Haptics in rehabilitation, Prosthetics, and Neural Engineering: Robotic Aspects and Neuro-scientific Principles” http://eurohaptics2014.limsi.fr/node/33
- Executive committee member for 2013 International Workshop on Clinical BMI Systems http://bmiconference.org/
- Co-organizer of a Workshop at IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology (EMB) Conference on Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Robotics for Upper and Lower Extremity, Boston, MA
- Co-organizer of a workshop at ASME Dynamic Systems and Controls Conference 2010 on Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Robotics http://duerer.usc.edu/pipermail/robotics-worldwide/2010-June/003101.html
Plan to encourage interaction among participants
The workshop will feature a mix of invited speakers, poster teasers, and poster discussion. Invited speakers representing complementary perspectives (neuroscience, motor learning, engineering, and clinical translation) will be paired for talks that address particular challenges in the field of upper limb exoskeletons. Then, the speakers will participate in a summary panel discussion with Q&A from the audience, moderated by the workshop organizers. These will be interspersed throughout the schedule of the workshop, which will engage participants in a number of ways.
In between paired talked and panels, we will feature poster teaser sessions where participants who have responded to a call for participation, submitted an abstract and prepared a poster can pitch their poster topic. Then, workshop participants will be given time to interact with authors at their posters for more in-depth conversation.
These two modalities (invited talks/panel and poster teasers/discussion) would alternate throughout the duration of the workshop. It is expected that the poster presenters would be early-career researchers for the most part, while invited speakers would represent established experts in the field.
Support of an IEEE RAS Technical Committee
The proposed workshop is supported by to IEEE RAS Technical Committees: TC on Mechanisms and Design and TC on Rehabilitation Robotics. Below are the contact info and statements from the TC co-chairs.
TC on Rehabilitation Robotics
Contact Info: Dr. Mike Van der Loos, University of British Columbia, vdl1@mail.ubc.ca
Statement: “The proposed workshop is well-aligned with the interests and scope of the TC on Rehabilitation Robotics, and is in an important and emerging area that the TC Chair believes will benefit from the organization that the workshop will provide.”
TC on Mechanisms and Design
Contact Info: Dr. Aaron Dollar, Yale University, aaron.dollar@yale.edu
Statement: "The proposed workshop is well-aligned with the interests and scope of the TC on Mechanisms and Design, and is in an important and emerging area that the TC Chairs believe will benefit from the organization that the workshop will provide."