Scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich have developed a light and wearable exotextile, using integrated sensors to detect muscle contractions and assist the wearer’s movements if necessary.
“Portable Muscles”
Contrary to motorized exoskeletonswhich act as both muscles and bones and thus provide additional strength and structural support, the exomuscles are designed to facilitate the actions of the wearer. Much less heavy and bulky, these can offer him a gain in strength that is certainly more limited, but valuable.
Featured in the magazine Nature Machine Intelligencele « Myoshirt aims in particular to improve strength and endurance people with reduced mobility or suffering from muscle decline.
It incorporates sensors transmitting data on muscle impulses to a control box, which processes them in real time and decides when to activate the artificial muscles (short cables made of ultra-resistant polyethylene fiber aligned parallel to the muscle fibers of the wearer). As the subject’s muscles contract, the shortening of the cables of the exotextile makes it possible to support its movements in a subtle, discreet, intuitive and modular way.
In order to assess its effectiveness, the authors of the study conducted experiments involving 10 subjects without any physical disability, one person with muscular dystrophy and another with spinal cord injury. In a test consisting of raising the arms/raising an object and holding them in the air, the device improved the endurance of the healthy subjects by more than 30%, compared to 60% for the subject with dementia. Charcot and 300% for the one whose spinal cord was damaged.
Towards a more “practical” Myoshirt
For the team, the next step will be to miniaturize and streamline its ” Myoshirt » so that it adapts better to the clothes, and to reduce the weight of the control box and the motor. Independent of the harness and weighing 4 kilos between them, they currently limit the practical use of the device to people in wheelchairs.
While the current prototype focuses on supporting movement involving the shoulder muscles when users raise their arm, the study authors believe the concept could be adapted for a number of other muscle groups (including legs).