RoboTexTherapy · Textile-based Wearable Mechanotheraphy Device with Liquid/Vapor Phase Change Actuation
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2019-05-01 → 2021-04-30
- EU contribution
- €157,356
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-RI
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Results in brief
Textile-based Wearable Mechanotheraphy Device with Liquid/Vapor Phase Change Actuation
Mechanotherapy can be broadly defined as any intervention that utilizes mechanical stimuli to induce a biological change via mechano-transduction processes with the goal of improving function and Soft Tissue Manipulation (STM) is a potent and direct form of mechanotherapy with important implications in physical rehabilitation, disease prevention, and health promotion. STM, also known as therapeutic massage, is a type of manual therapy that is commonly used by clinicians around the world to treat common musculoskeletal pain disorders. Numerous devices for manipulating muscle tissue have been developed for clinical use, and pneumatic compression devices are already available and widely used. However, these systems have limited control mechanisms and do not monitor the forces applied to the body during application, and prior research has demonstrated that the loading conditions of soft tissue have a significant effect on the mechanotherapeutic treatment. Thus, the project's overall objective is to conduct a fellowship in order to develop a textile-dominated, mobile, wearable, Textile-based Mechano-Therapeutic Device (TMTD) with programmable actuation that combines natural compliance to aid in muscle recovery and regeneration. Additionally, one of the primary disadvantages of pneumatic compression systems is that they require rigid and bulky pumping systems to perform mechanotherapy, which significantly reduces the device's mobility. As a result, I propose a new device design called Thermally Powered Soft Fluidic Actuators (TPSFAs), which will utilize the liquid/vapour phase transition property of low boiling point liquids to generate the desired pressure level and thus eliminate the need for such bulky components in the proposed device.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Soft Tissue Manipulation (STM) is a powerful and direct form of mechanotherapy, which has significant implications in physical rehabilitation, disease prevention and health promotions. Different types of devices for manipulating muscle tissue have been developed for clinical applications and pneumatic compression devices are already in the market and widely used. However, these systems have limited control modalities and lack of monitoring the forces being exerted to the body during the application and previous studies have shown that the loading conditions of soft tissue have a crucial effect on the mechano-therapeutic treatment. One of the main drawback of the pneumatic compression systems is they do need rigid and bulky pumping systems for the implementation of mechanotherapy and this requirement greatly reduces the mobility of the device. Furthermore, rigid-body industrial robotic manipulators have also been used for mechano-therapeutic applications. Although these systems have the ability to perfectly manipulate soft tissue and apply controlled forces, they are expensive and do not enable safe human-device interaction due to their rigid nature. Overall, to address the challenges above I will employ textile materials to achieve both sensing and actuation with the help of phase change property of low boiling point liquids. The textile-based approach will lead to system that are lighter and mobile and safe for human-device interaction. Its successful completion will contribute to the acceleration of the soft tissue providing better and more effective therapies in terms of wearability comfort, mobility and power consumption. By combining my existing skills with newly acquired skillset that will be gained during the fellowship I will have an opportunity for securing a permanent academic position within Marmara University or a top-tier European university and starting my own research group.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- MARMARA UNIVERSITY · IstanbulCoordinatorTürkiye
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union