Benchmarking Exoskeleton-Assisted Gait Based on Users’ Subjective Perspective and Experience (EXPERIENCE)

Starting date: April the 10th 2019
Duration: 20 months

Project category

OPTION 1: develop a benchmarking solution for one specific benchmarking scenario including one or more outcomes: testbed, software routines and/or experimental datasets.

Application

Wearable robots

Outcome

Software & Dataset

Team:

COORDINATOR:

Fondazione Santa Lucia (Italy)

PARTNER 2:

Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma (Italy)

Abstract

Users’ Subjective Perspective (USP) is poorly considered during the design and testing of exoskeletons. Current scientific literature demonstrates minimal consensus on the metrics to be used to comprehensively assess USP during exoskeleton-assisted gait. The objective of the EXPERIENCE project is to provide developers of lower-limb exoskeletons and clinical experimenters with a benchmarking method capable of catching the subjective perspective of end-users, which goes beyond both quantitative biomechanical metrics and qualitative clinical scales inasmuch it centrally includes the personal opinion of the user, who is considered to be the main actor and the most important source of information during human-robot interaction. The project will devise a benchmarking method for the user-centered assessment of exoskeleton-assisted gait including a purposively developed multifactor questionnaire evaluating USP and a set of indicators estimating the user’s psychophysiological state. Data including questionnaire results and psychophysiological indicators will be collected during pilot experiments with stroke, spinal cord injury and healthy subjects interacting with treadmill-based and overground exoskeletons