Periodic Reporting for period 3 - SoftPro (Synergy-based Open-source Foundations and Technologies for Prosthetics and RehabilitatiOn)
Reporting period: 2019-03-01 to 2020-02-29
The main objective of the SoftPro project is to fulfil Henry Ford’s vision to assist people with upper limb amputations or motor disabilities providing them with robotics-enabled aids. To do so, we need not only to produce new technology and better performing devices; we also need to make the technology accessible to real people with real needs. Today, most prostheses in real use are either merely aesthetic, or extremely simple, while robotics-enabled prostheses are still too costly, fragile, and unintuitive to be widely used. Although one of the few factors we know for sure to play an important role in recovery is frequency of impaired limb use, rehab training and assistive devices are very rarely manageable and affordable enough to be at the patient’s home, while their availability in rehabilitation centers is severely limited. One of the principal keypoints of the SoftPro proposal was to provide a strong impact on both Research and Innovation. The consortium capitalized on previous knowledge and technologies developed by the participants with the ultimate goal of providing significant TRL advances, in the attempt of bringing an existing concept of soft-synergy based hand prosthesis to reach a pre-marketable state. On the other hand, the SoftPro project did not miss the chance to contribute to fundamental research, especially in exploring the implications of the theory of sensorimotor synergies in rehabilitation, and in establishing novel tools for clinical assessment. Finally, the SoftPro project had a “red label” area where disruptively new ideas and paradigms, admittedly high risk but potentially high reward, have been profiteably pioneered. An example of this is the use of robotic extra limbs (sixth fingers, or third hands) for assistance and rehabilitation of patients with motor impairments.
In terms of Innovation, SoftPro capitalizes on previous research work in engineering, validates it clinically, and assesses the economic viability and business model of components and systems for robotics-enabled aids – or in other terms, to move from bench to bedside. Thanks to the dynamical nature of the involved SMEs and the strong links between participants, the industrial pickup of at least some of these results is highly probable. Such is the case e.g. for the existing concept of soft-synergy based hand prosthesis (the SoftHand Pro), at the beginning of the project tested on a few amputees in Italian and international facilities, and which within the SoftPro duration has reached a pre-marketable state. Other SoftPro devices that will reach high TRL are shell-based exoskeletons and IMU-based posture and measurement gloves. SoftPro has integrated technologies in final demonstrators of large potential technical impact to foster, since the early phases of the project, the development of concrete industrial products, based on pre-existing technologies made available by our academic and industrial participants and ready to be picked up by our agile SMEs. In other terms, technologies that have been bench-tested (to different degrees) have participated in the SoftPro integration process, during which they have been refined according to technical specifications derived from clinical requirement analysis, reaching a TRL level that make them ready to go to bedside. In terms of Research, SoftPro has contributed importantly to applied neurosciences, to interfaces, and to assessment tools and methods. The main expected and achieved results in applied neurosciences are the clarification of the implications of the theory of sensorimotor synergies in rehabilitation and the development of novel algorithms for eliciting synergy-inspired control of robotic aids. The design and validation of novel interfaces for haptic stimulus delivery in feedback assistive devices represents an outgrowth of participants’ research in robotics and human-computer interfaces into a novel direction, substantially adding to the state of art in prosthetics and in rehabilitation. Finally, new tools for the assessment of effectiveness of robot-enabled prostheses and assistive devices include the maturation of the ReHapticKnob and the development of a re-engineered portable version (Handybot), the kinematic glove and the development and application of force/torque based, intrinsic tactile sensing techniques to measure grasping and manipulative forces with tools such as the ThimbleSense and its advanced version Exosense, including the extension to the study of the interaction with deformable surfaces. Finally, the SoftPro project pursued “red label” investigations and developments, where we have undertaken higher risks testing disruptively new hypotheses and paradigms, including an attempt to extract from nervous system signals important features for the assessment of the internal state and interoception of the users of SoftPro systems and pioneering the idea of using robotic extra limbs for providing assistance to patients with chronic motor impairments, and even venturing into the evaluation of therapeutic effects of the use of extra limbs for neuro-rehabilitation of post-stroke patients.
The maximization of the economic and social impact of technologies developed within SoftPro has been among the key pillars identified since the project’s conceptual phase. In pursuit of this objective, an assessment was conducted on current industry conditions and market trends with particular focus on their functionality and dynamics. Comprehension of both the industry and the market have been the steppingstone in evaluating the viability of market penetration and the development of business plans and go-to-market strategies. While various criteria have beeb considered and evaluated, target markets possessing the highest probability of customers willing and able to pay for a product or service has been noticeably among the most crucial.The implementation of the Business Model Canvas tool has facilitated the assessment of all potential business models and their pertinence to the markets of interest by identifying a business model’s nine core areas under the principle of value creation for potential customers: value proposition, customer segments, customer relationships, channels, key activities, key resources, key partnerships, cost structure, and revenue streams.
The integrated effort of clinical, engineering and SME partners has significantly contributed to make Henry Ford’s vision closer to reality. We have laid down the foundations of a new theoretical framework for the understanding of the neural and biomechanic mechanisms underpinning upper limb motion control, in both pathological and physiological conditions. In parallel, the neuroscientific findings and a close interaction with real end users has pushed and guided all the development pahses of new assistive and rehabilitation tools, including disruptive approaches for the assessment and therapy delivery, which has considerably bridged the gap between pure research and real people with real needs. This has finally opened promising scenarions not only for stroke patients and persons with limb loss, but also for a wider range of sensory-motor impaired people. Furthermore, the technological advancements needed to reach the ambitious goals of the project, as it is the case of soft robotics technologies, will impact other related fields in advanced human-robot interaction.
The integrated effort of clinical, engineering and SME partners has significantly contributed to make Henry Ford’s vision closer to reality. We have laid down the foundations of a new theoretical framework for the understanding of the neural and biomechanic mechanisms underpinning upper limb motion control, in both pathological and physiological conditions. In parallel, the neuroscientific findings and a close interaction with real end users has pushed and guided all the development pahses of new assistive and rehabilitation tools, including disruptive approaches for the assessment and therapy delivery, which has considerably bridged the gap between pure research and real people with real needs. This has finally opened promising scenarions not only for stroke patients and persons with limb loss, but also for a wider range of sensory-motor impaired people. Furthermore, the technological advancements needed to reach the ambitious goals of the project, as it is the case of soft robotics technologies, will impact other related fields in advanced human-robot interaction.