{"id":5690,"date":"2023-03-03T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-03T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=5690"},"modified":"2023-02-16T07:36:26","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T07:36:26","slug":"faster-than-reflexes-robo-boots-boost-balance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/faster-than-reflexes-robo-boots-boost-balance\/","title":{"rendered":"Faster-than-reflexes robo-boots boost balance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n These boots were made for superhuman balance.\n Candler Hobbs, Georgia Institute of Techology<\/span><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\nLena Ting<\/a>, Emory University<\/a><\/em>; Gregory S. Sawicki<\/a>, Georgia Institute of Technology<\/a><\/em>; Max Shepherd<\/a>, Northeastern University<\/a><\/em>, and Owen Beck<\/a>, The University of Texas at Austin<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

The Research Brief<\/a> is a short take about interesting academic work.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

The big idea<\/h2>\n\n

Robotic boots providing superhuman reflexes can help your balance. Our new study<\/a> shows that the key to augmenting balance is to have boots that can act faster than human reaction times. <\/p>\n\n

When people slip or trip, their reactions to regain balance are far slower than some machines can act. For humans, and other animals with legs, it takes time<\/a> for biological sensors to send signals to the nervous system and then turn on muscles. Robots can act much faster, using wires instead of nerves to send their signals. <\/p>\n\n

But robots are still notoriously bad at balancing, because they can\u2019t yet mimic how humans respond when their balance is challenged. We are biomechanical<\/a> engineers<\/a> and rehabilitation<\/a> physiology<\/a> researchers who study the neurophysiology of movement. In our study, we sought to answer the question of whether wearable robots \u2013 like powered lower-limb exoskeletons or prostheses \u2013 can improve balance above and beyond a normal baseline. <\/p>\n\n

\n \"a<\/a>\n
\n In this composite time series image, a test subject wearing a robotic lower-limb exoskeleton pitches forward but doesn\u2019t need to step to maintain her balance.<\/span>\n Candler Hobbs, Georgia Institute of Techology<\/span><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n

We used a motorized floor to literally \u201cpull the rug out\u201d from under healthy young participants \u2013 pitching them forward toward the ground. We asked them to stay balanced with their feet in place, but sometimes the slip was so large that they had to take a step to avoid face-planting on the ground. Then, we programmed the exo-boots to give the participants a blast of assistance with either the same delay as their natural response or artificially faster than humanly possible and compared that to giving no exo-boot assistance at all.<\/p>\n\n

We were surprised to find that only the mode that beats the human reaction to the punch helped users recover balance faster and prevented them from taking a step to recover.<\/p>\n\n

At the same time, we recorded physiological responses of our exo-boot \u201ctest pilots\u201d to see whether the device was mimicking \u2013 or potentially interfering with \u2013 their underlying balance responses. Using ultrasound, we could look under the skin to see how calf muscles stretched during the slip. Muscle stretch generates critical sensory signals needed by the nervous system to initiate a balance reaction. <\/p>\n\n

The faster-than-human exo-boot balance response actually eliminated calf muscle stretch signals, but the control signals to those same muscles, in response to the nervous system generally, persisted. This finding highlights that the nervous system is more than a set of simple reflexes that react to local muscle stretch but instead acts to gather information from throughout the body to remain upright<\/a> in both standing<\/a> and walking<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Why it matters<\/h2>\n\n

People tend to take balance for granted. But every step holds the possibility of a fall, and bad falls are a top reason for health declines<\/a> when people grow older. If researchers can develop assistive technology to improve balance while getting from here to there, it can prevent falls and enable people to be active for longer. <\/p>\n\n

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