Soft Exoskeleton Mimics Human Cough for Assisting the Expectoration Capability of SCI Patients

• Published in: IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering Vol. 30; pp. 936 - 946
• Main Authors: Zhang, Yan, Wang, Ziqi, Ge, Qinggang, Wang, Zongyu, Zhou, Xiangjie, Han, Shaohang, Guo, Weidong, Zhang, Yuru, Wang, Dangxiao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 2022; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Actuation; Actuators; Bionics; Cough; Diaphragm; Diaphragm (anatomy); Exoskeleton; Exoskeleton Device; Exoskeletons; Humans; Injuries; Jamming; Licenses; Mannequins; Modules; Muscle contraction; Muscles; Muscular function; Physical Therapy Modalities; Pulmonary diseases; Rehabilitation; rehabilitation robotics; Respiratory function; Robotics; Robots; Soft robotics; Spinal cord injuries; Spinal Cord Injuries - rehabilitation
• DOI: 10.1109/TNSRE.2022.3162578
• ISSN: 1534-4320; 1558-0210

This paper describes the design of a bionic soft exoskeleton and demonstrates its feasibility for assisting the expectoration function rehabilitation of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Methods: A human-robot coupling respiratory mechanic model is established to mimic human cough, and a synergic inspire-expire assistance strategy is proposed to maximize the peak expiratory flow (PEF), the key metric for promoting cough intensity. The negative pressure module of the exoskeleton is a soft "iron lung" using layer-jamming actuation. It assists inspiration by increasing insufflation to mimic diaphragm and intercostal muscle contraction. The positive pressure module exploits soft origami actuators for assistive expiration; it pressures human abdomen and bionically "pushes" the diaphragm upward. Results: The maximum increase in PEF ratios for mannequins, healthy participants, and patients with SCI with robotic assistance were 57.67%, 278.10%, and 124.47%, respectively. The soft exoskeleton assisted one tetraplegic SCI patient to cough up phlegm successfully. Conclusion: The experimental results suggest that the proposed soft exoskeleton is promising for assisting the expectoration ability of SCI patients in everyday life scenarios. Significance: The proposed soft exoskeleton is promising for advancing the application field of rehabilitation exoskeletons from motor functions to respiratory functions.