| NSF Org: |
CMMI Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 11, 2015 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 6, 2019 |
| Award Number: | 1527087 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Irina Dolinskaya
idolinsk@nsf.gov (703)292-7078 CMMI Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2015 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2020 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $861,996.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $861,996.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
615 W 131ST ST NEW YORK NY US 10027-7922 (212)854-6851 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
2960 Broadway NEW YORK NY US 10027-6902 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | NRI-National Robotics Initiati |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
Idiopathic scoliosis is a condition in which the spine develops a strong left/right curvature, forming a C- or S-shape instead of a straight line. Approximately 2% to 3% of adolescents suffer from the disorder, with about 1 in 500 required to wear corrective braces until skeletal maturity, and about 1 in 5,000 requiring spinal surgery. A typical scoliosis brace is worn around the trunk and hips, and completely immobilizes the upper body, which substantially degrades quality of life. This project will demonstrate a hybrid dynamic brace for correcting scoliosis, while minimally affecting the activities of daily living. Compliant passive braces tailored to the treatment needs of individual wearers allow greater freedom of movement, but cannot respond to changes in posture or more gradual evolution of the wearer's condition. Active braces provide dynamically responsive corrective forces, but require power-hungry motors, and greatly increase weight and complexity. This project will demonstrate a hybrid approach, providing freedom of movement and dynamic response, but without the weight and power requirements of fully active designs. The result is essentially a wearable robot that continually monitors and responds to the needs of the user.
This project will lay the scientific foundation for the design of dynamic brace co-robots, and the evaluation of their effectiveness for both quantification and treatment of the abnormal spine. These dynamic braces will be designed to modulate the corrective forces on the spine in desired directions while still allowing the users to perform typical activities of daily life. The project will investigate the hypothesis that dynamic braces have the potential to transform treatment in this field, as these can provide effective control of corrective forces on the spine both spatially and temporally. The scientific studies will characterize the spatial stiffness of the spine in a specific pose and during different functions. The studies will target treatment outcomes in subjects with abnormal spine. Furthermore, this project will train students in interdisciplinary research and will result in future workshops and courses appealing to engineers, clinicians, medical caregivers, and high school students, motivating careers in STEM.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The goal of the current proposal was to develop the science for design of dynamic braces and evaluate their effectiveness for quantification and treatment of the abnormal spine. The accomplishments were as follows:
1. Torso Stiffness Characterization of Adult Men: Our group completed a study to characterize torso stiffness of healthy adult men using Robotic Spine Exsoskeleton (RoSE) and individuals with kyphosis and one with scoliosis. The findings of this research were published in IEEE Trans. of Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering in 2018.
2. Torso stiffness characterization of Young females: We designed a version of the spine exoskeleton to fit adolescent women, the population most at risk for spinal curve abnormality. We were able to compare the torso stiffness for female adolescents with and without scoliosis. The group with scoliosis presented with more asymmetry in their stiffness, and more varied stiffness coupling patterns. The findings of this research were published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters in 2020.
3. Design of Spine Exoskeleton with Series Elastic Actuators (SEA): We designed a series elastic actuated (SEA) robotic spine brace. The design has a bi-directional linear spring in series with the linear actuator. The main goal was to reduce the overall stiffness of the system which may pave the way for better human interface during activities of daily living. This design was published in ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics in 2018.
4. Design of Spine Exoskeleton for use on a wheelchair: Subjects with spine abnormality and those with trauma of the spine end up using a wheelchair in their normal daily life. The goal was to extend the design of spine exoskeleton for individuals on wheelchairs who require active postural Support. This design was fabricated and tested with users during their typical activity of daily living. The results of this research was published in Robotica in 2019.
5. Characterizing the Motion of Cervical Spine due to Neck Surgery: Deformity and poor control of the cervical spine follows surgeries after cancer of the neck and face. A wearable upper neck brace was designed to characterize the motion of patients after cancer surgery. The results of this study was submitted for publication in Wearable Technologies in 2020.
The results of this research resulted in a US patent "Spinal Treatment and Methods" (#10,639,185) and a second patent application is pending with the US Patent Office.
We invited a Physics teacher and two high-school students from a local girls-only high school to participate in our research over the summer. The students invited other members of their class for demonstration and participation in the research studies. In addition, over the course of the project, we had close to 200 middle school and high school students who visited our Robotics and Rehabilitatio (ROAR) Laboratory as a part of our outreach program to interest students in local schools to interest in Science, Technology, and Mathematics (STEM).
This interdisciliplinary project involving robotics and medicine provided a unique exposure to our engineering students to be exposed to clinical research and vice versa for clinicians to appreciate the impact of engineering research. The project created a dialog between engineers and clinicians to work on a project that impacts children and adults in our society. The results of this research broke new grounds and will be a foundation for research on this topic in the future.
Last Modified: 01/24/2021
Modified by: Sunil K Agrawal
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