1. COMPOSITE MATERIALS Background & Motivation PlaySkin Air – Garment Based Exoskeleton for Upper Body Support Jessica Doyle, Alison Marcozzi, Gabe Szczepanek, Chelsea Thompson Infant Behavior Motor Lab, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716 Final ConceptConcept Validation Design Metrics Project Scope PlaySkin Air Final Design: Accordion arm lift design: air bladder inside cotton-laminated accordion User-control system: electrical pack that contains the batteries, circuit board and series of air pumps that connects to fabric buttons for easy use Performance Summary & Path Forward Based on the metric testing, this is a valid design and should be continued PlaySkin Air satisfied all of the metrics except for the shoulder flexion angle and the maximum distance from the body A Generation 2 model will be made to meet some of the shortcomings of Generation 1, PlaySkin Air, see below: The use of a stronger pump to provide a higher pressure to lift the arm Improved heat sealing technique to create 3- dimensional shaped bladder The long term goal for this design is to patent the design and have it mass produced by a manufacturer and distributed via the Infant Motor Behavior Lab. Acknowledgements Dr. Michele Lobo, Infant Motor Behavior Lab, University of Delaware Dr. Jennifer Buckley, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Delaware Department of Physical Therapy, University of Delaware Arthrogryposis and various palsies are diseases known to cause voluntary muscle weakness Children born with arm weakness have difficulty lifting their arms against gravity Beneficial to create an improved exoskeleton to facilitate rehabilitation and stimulate child learning Previous exoskeletons: WREX, PlaySkin Lift TM Limitations of these designs: To develop a user-controlled, wearable device to assist children with upper body motor deficiencies in lifting their arms to interact with their environment. MetricWantDescriptionTarget Value Shoulder FlexionFunctionalityGarment should assist shoulder flexion 0-135 +/- 5 ° Variable Set PointsFunctionalityThe arms should be lifted to variable set points Number of set points > 1 Inflation SpeedFunctionalityGarment should move controllably and move smoothly Speed < 8°/s 2 Elbow FlexionFunctionalityAllow elbow flexion to prevent stiffness > 75% Unrestricted Shoulder AbductionFunctionalityPrevent shoulder from performing non- anatomical movements > 75% Unrestriction Parental AssistanceUser-controlledChild should require little assistance while wearing the garment 0 parents involvement Ease of ControlUser-controlledChild should be able to easily press the control Easy to Use Maximum distance from the body Low ProfileGarment should not be obtrusive or bulky Distance from body < 2’’ Figure 1: Frontal view of complete design of PlaySkin Air including the deflated accordion (right arm), inflated accordion (left arm), user-control (left wrist) and electrical pack around waist. Figure 2: Electrical pack that contains series of four air pumps (left) and batteries and circuit board (right). Figure 3: Posterior View of design that includes the inflated air bladder (left) connected with tubing to the electrical belt (bottom). WREX Hard, Bulky, Tethered Expensive PlaySkin Lift TM No User Control One Set Point