Enhancing walking efficiency of adolescents with neurological impairments using an exosuit for ambulatory activities of daily living.

Children and adolescents with neurological impairments face reduced participation and independence in daily life activities due to walking difficulties. Existing assistive devices often offer insufficient support, potentially leading to wheelchair dependence and limiting physical activity and daily life engagement. Mobile wearable robots, such as exoskeletons and exosuits, have shown promise in supporting adults during activities of daily living but are underexplored for children.

Sensory-Motor Neurostimulation to Enhance Exosuit Performance.

Exosuits typically provide limited mechanical support and rely on a user's residual functional ability. However, people with neurological impairments often suffer from both motor and sensory deficits that limit the assistance an exosuit can provide. To overcome these limitations, we developed the REINFORCE system, that complements the mechanical assistance provided by an exosuit, the Myosuit, with (1) functional electrical stimulation to enhance the activities of leg muscles, and (2) transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation to restore somatosensory information.

Usability of an exosuit in domestic and community environments.

Background: Exosuits have been shown to reduce metabolic cost of walking and to increase gait performance when used in clinical environment. Currently, these devices are transitioning to private use to facilitate independent training at home and in the community. However, their acceptance in unsupervised settings remains unclear.

Cognitive benefits of using non-invasive compared to implantable neural feedback.

A non-optimal prosthesis integration into an amputee's body schema suggests some important functional and health consequences after lower limb amputation. These include low perception of a prosthesis as a part of the body, experiencing it as heavier than the natural limb, and cognitively exhausting use for users. Invasive approaches, exploiting the surgical implantation of electrodes in residual nerves, improved prosthesis integration by restoring natural and somatotopic sensory feedback in transfemoral amputees.

A stretchable sensor for force estimation in soft wearable robots.

Soft wearable robots to assist human movements, such as exosuits, have rapidly gained attention thanks to their compliance, low weight and accessibility. However, force measurement in exosuits still rely on load cells and rigid sensors that are not wearable or unsuitable for applications outside the lab. Soft, stretchable and lightweight sensors that become invisible when integrated in an exosuit and perfectly conform to the human body represent a promising alternative.

A non-invasive wearable sensory leg neuroprosthesis: mechanical, electrical and functional validation.

. Lower limb amputees suffer from a variety of functional deficits related to the absence of sensory communication between the central nervous system and the lost extremity. Indeed, they experience high risk of falls, asymmetric walking and balance, and low prosthesis embodiment, that significantly decrease their quality of life.