Assistive flexible suits, flexible suit systems, and methods for making and control thereof to assist human mobility

Abstract

In at least some aspects, the present concepts include a method for configuring an assistive flexible suit including the acts of outfitting a person with an assistive flexible suit, monitoring an output of at least one sensor of the assistive flexible suit as the person moves in a first controlled movement environment, identifying at least one predefined gait event using the output of the at least one sensor, adjusting an actuation profile of the at least one actuator and continuing to perform the acts of monitoring, identifying and adjusting until an actuation profile of the at least one actuator generates a beneficial moment about the at least one joint to promote an improvement in gait. The at least one controller is then set to implement the actuation profile.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . An assistive flexible suit comprising:
 at least a first anchor configured for positioning on a first side of at least one joint;   a second anchor configured for positioning on a second side of at least one joint;   at least one flexible connection coupling the first anchor and the second anchor;   at least one sensor;   at least one actuator configured to apply a tensile force to the at least one flexible connection to generate a moment about the at least one joint during movement of the at least one joint; and   at least one processor configured to actuate the at least one actuator to apply the tensile force according to an actuation profile responsive to one or more events occurring during movement of the at least one joint, the at least one processor further configured to perform the steps of:
 monitoring an output of the at least one sensor as the user moves to identify, using the output of the at least one sensor, at least one event during successive movement cycles of the user; 
 updating a reference movement pattern based at least in part on continued monitoring of the output of the at least one sensor; and 
 adjusting at least one selected from a trajectory, a timing, and a magnitude of an actuation profile of the at least one actuator based at least in part on the updated reference movement pattern; and 
 continuing to perform the steps of monitoring, identifying, and adjusting until the actuation profile of the at least one actuator generates a moment about the at least one joint that improves movement of the at least one joint. 
   
     
     
         3 . The assistive flexible suit, wherein the at least one processor is configured to set the at least one processor to implement the actuation profile. 
     
     
         4 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 2 , wherein the adjusting the actuation profile comprises adjusting one or more of a timing of actuation of the at least one actuator, a ramp up force profile delivered by the at least one actuator, a ramp down force profile delivered by the at least one actuator, a maximum amplitude of force delivered by the at least one actuator, and/or a duration of force delivered by the at least one actuator. 
     
     
         5 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one identified event comprises at least one selected from a heel strike, toe off, heel off, foot flat, foot landing, a start of controlled dorsiflexion, a start of powered plantarflexion, a height of wearer's center of mass relative to the ground, an initiation of a muscle eccentric contraction, and an initiation of a muscle concentric contraction. 
     
     
         6 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 2 , wherein the improvement in movement comprises at least one selected from improved forward propulsion, enhanced forward hip swing, increased stability, an improved left-right symmetry, improved temporal symmetry in hemiparetic gait, improved spatial symmetry in hemiparetic gait, increased joint range of motion of an affected side during the gait cycle in hemiparetic gait, increased ground clearance during swing phase, increased plantar flexion force during push-off, increased self-selected walking speed, and reduced compensatory movements. 
     
     
         7 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 2 ,
 wherein the at least one flexible connection comprises a plurality of flexible connections, and   wherein at least a portion of the plurality of flexible connections are configured to be modular such that the portion of the plurality of flexible connection are configured to be selectively incorporated into and/or removed from the assistive flexible suit to provide selective connection between an output of the at least one actuator to one or more attachment points for selectively modifying rotation of the at least one joint in one or more joint rotation planes.   
     
     
         8 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 7 ,
 wherein at least one of the one or more attachment points is configured to allow the assistive flexible suit to deliver torques to the at least one joint with a tunable degree of coupling between two or three different joint rotation planes.   
     
     
         9 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 2 ,
 wherein the assistive flexible suit further comprises a plurality of interchangeable modules configured for providing any one or combination of ankle plantarflexion assistance, ankle dorsiflexion assistance, hip flexion assistance, hip extension assistance, knee flexion assistance, and knee extension assistance; and   wherein actuation of the at least one actuator generates a moment about at least two joints.   
     
     
         10 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 2 ,
 wherein the at least one joint includes an ankle joint, and   wherein selective actuation of the at least one flexible connection permits modification at least one selected from plantar flexion, dorsiflexion, supination, pronation, inversion, eversion, adduction, and abduction motion of the ankle joint.   
     
     
         11 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 3 , wherein at least the step of monitoring is performed as the user moves in a first controlled environment. 
     
     
         12 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor, subsequent to the steps of monitoring, adjusting and setting the at least one processor to implement the actuation profile, is further configured to perform the steps of:
 monitoring an output of the at least one sensor as the user moves in a second controlled movement environment to identify, using the output of the at least one sensor, at least one event during the period of monitoring;   adjusting at least one of the trajectory, the timing, and the magnitude of the actuation profile of the at least one actuator;   continuing to perform the steps of monitoring, identifying, adjusting, and setting during movement of the user in the second controlled movement environment.   
     
     
         13 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 12 ,
 wherein the movement in the first controlled movement environment comprises walking on a treadmill, and   wherein the movement in the second controlled movement environment comprises walking on a floor or an instrumented floor.   
     
     
         14 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 2 ,
 wherein at least the step of monitoring is performed as the user moves outside of a controlled environment.   
     
     
         15 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 2 ,
 wherein the at least one flexible connection is connected to at least one offboard actuator, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to perform the steps of:   controlling an actuation of the at least one offboard actuator, using an offboard controller, responsive to the output of the at least one sensor;   adjusting an actuation profile of the at least one offboard actuator; and   continuing to perform the steps of monitoring, controlling and adjusting until the actuation profile generates the moment about the at least one joint to promote the improvement in movement of the at least one joint.   
     
     
         16 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 2 ,
 wherein the processor is configured such that at least the steps of monitoring and adjusting are performed by a medical provider in the loop via a GUI interface.   
     
     
         17 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 2 ,
 wherein the processor is configured such that at least the steps of monitoring and adjusting are performed by the person outfitted with the assistive flexible suit in the loop.   
     
     
         18 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 2 ,
 wherein the processor is configured such that at least the step of monitoring is performed by a detection algorithm operating on the processor.   
     
     
         19 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 2 ,
 wherein the processor is configured such that at least the step of adjusting is automatically performed by a control algorithm on the controller.   
     
     
         20 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 2 ,
 wherein the processor is configured such that in at least one mode of operation the assistive flexible suit is operated in a transparent state where the actuator tracks movement of the person to apply a substantially zero tensile force to the at least one flexible connection during at least a portion of a movement cycle.   
     
     
         21 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 2 ,
 wherein the step of monitoring includes:
 monitoring an output of at least a first sensor on an impaired leg during a gait cycle, the first sensor being configured to provide first information relating to a gait pattern to the at least one processor; and 
   wherein the step of adjusting includes:
 determining a variance between the gait pattern of the impaired leg and a reference movement pattern, and 
 determining a second actuation profile, acting across the at least one joint, configured to decrease the variance in the gait pattern of the impaired leg from the reference movement pattern. 
   
     
     
         22 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 2 ,
 wherein the step of monitoring includes:
 monitoring an output of at least a first sensor on an impaired leg during a gait cycle, the first sensor being configured to provide first information relating to a gait pattern of the impaired leg to the at least one processor, and 
 monitoring an output of at least a second sensor on a sound leg during the gait cycle, the second sensor being configured to provide second information relating to the gait pattern of the at least one processor to the assistive flexible suit controller; and 
   wherein the step of adjusting includes:
 determining a variance in the gait pattern of the impaired leg from a gait pattern of the sound leg, using the first information and the second information, and 
 determining a second actuation profile, acting across the at least one joint, configured to decrease the variance in the gait pattern of the impaired leg from the gait pattern of the sound leg. 
   
     
     
         23 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 2 , wherein the controller is further configured to perform the step of implementing the adjusted actuation profile in a subsequent movement cycle. 
     
     
         24 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 2 , wherein monitoring the output of the at least one sensor as the person moves to identify the at least one event occurring during the successive movement cycles of the person comprises determining an average timing of the last N movement durations during a predetermined number of previous movement cycles, wherein N is an integer. 
     
     
         25 . The assistive flexible suit of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises a plurality of sensors, with at least a first sensor is configured to be disposed on a first leg and at least a second sensor is configured to be disposed on a second leg, and wherein the moment about the at least one joint to provide the improvement in movement is provided to at least the first leg responsive to an output of both of the first and the second sensor during operation. 
     
     
         26 . A method for improving movement of at least one joint, the method comprising:
 identifying at least one event during successive movement cycles of the user;   updating a reference movement pattern based at least in part on continued identification of the at least one event;   adjusting at least one of a trajectory, a timing, and a magnitude of an actuation profile based at least in part on the updated reference movement pattern;   operating at least one actuator based on the actuation profile to apply a tensile force to at least one flexible connection coupling a first anchor disposed on a first side of the at least one joint and a second anchor disposed on a second side of the at least one joint to generate a moment about the at least one joint during movement of the at least one joint; and   continuing to perform the steps of monitoring, identifying, and adjusting until the actuation profile of the at least one actuator generates a moment about the at least one joint that improves movement of the at least one joint.