Balance aids used in daily life and rehabilitation centres are useful but far from perfect. Canes, walkers, crutches and hand rails alter posture and prevent you from being able to use your hands for actions such as opening doors, carrying groceries or picking up the phone. More advanced aids, such as mobile bodyweight support systems or robotic walkers, also take up a lot of space or can only be used in specific environments. Led by professor Heike Vallery, Andrew Berry, Daniel Lemus and Saher Jabeen, researchers at TU Delft's BioMechanical Engineering department, developed the GyBAR: a backpack-like portable robot that supports balance during rehabilitation.
The backpack contains a gyroscopic actuator - a rotating disc repositionable by electric motors - that supports balance in a variety of activities and environments, leaving hands free. The results of initial experiments with humans and potential end users have been published in Nature Scientific Reports.
Risks of falling
Falling is the leading cause of accident-related injuries in all age groups, but is especially dangerous for people suffering from conditions that affect motor skills or lead to sensory or cognitive impairments. Adults over 65 years old are at high risk of serious injury when they fall; if they suffer a hip fracture, they also have a 25 per cent chance of dying from their injuries within six to 12 months of the fall. For the development of an assistive device that supports balance and leaves the hands free while being able to automatically detect and correct instability, wearable robotics has great potential.
Inspiration from space
To develop the GyBAR, inspiration came from space: satellites are capable of changing their orientation in space without using force or moment relative to their surroundings (Figure 1). Moment can be exerted on a satellite (or on the human body) by changing the angular momentum of internal flywheels, achieving or preventing a certain rotation. One technique for this uses the so-called gyroscopic effect, which can be observed in spinning spinning tops, which resist the effect of gravity (Figure 2). Researchers at TU Delft have managed to build an actuator based on the gyroscopic effect, which is usually used in sensors (think, for example, of the gyroscope sensor in a mobile phone, which measures movements).
Partners
Researchers Andrew Berry, Daniel Lemus and Saher Jabeen developed the GyBAR under the guidance of Professor Heike Vallery and Frans van der Helm, and in collaboration with Westland Orthopaedics BV, DEMO (Electronic and Mechanical Development Service) and Hyperion Technologies BV. The clinical evaluation of the GyBAR was conducted in collaboration with the Max Näder Center for Rehabilitation Technologies and Outcomes Research at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago and with rehabilitation physician Carel Meskers of the VUmc.
