Exoskeleton cloud-brain platform and its application in safety assessment

Purpose This paper aims at the problem of attaching the data of doctors, patients and the real-time sensor data of the exoskeleton to the cloud in intelligent rehabilitation applications. This study designed the exoskeleton cloud-brain platform and validated its safety assessment. Design/methodology/approach According to the dimension of data and the transmission speed, this paper implements a three-layer cloud-brain platform of exoskeleton based on Alibaba Cloud's Lambda-like architecture. At the same time, given the human–machine safety status detection problem of the exoskeleton, this paper built a personalized machine-learning safety detection module for users with the multi-dimensional sensor data cloned by the cloud-brain platform. This module includes an abnormality detection model, prediction model and state classification model of the human–machine state. Findings These functions of the exoskeleton cloud-brain and the algorithms based on it were validated by the experiments, they meet the needs of use. Originality/value This thesis innovatively proposes a cloud-brain platform for exoskeletons, beginning the digitalization and intelligence of the exoskeletal rehabilitation process and laying the foundation for future intelligent assistance systems.

Smartes Assistenzsystem zur Anforderungserhebung/From customer idea to plant and machinery manufacturer – An intelligent assistance system for requirements elicitation

Fehler bei der Inbetriebnahme von Maschinen und Anlagen sind kostspielig und zeitintensiv. Dabei steigen die Kosten mit dem Voranschreiten des Entwicklungsprozesses stark an. Um Missverständnisse oder Planungsfehler zu minimieren, bevor diese hohe Kosten verursachen, wird ein intelligentes Assistenzsystem beschrieben, das die Vorstellungen, Ziele und Mittel des Kunden auf einfache Weise erfasst und auftretende Probleme oder Unklarheiten reaktiv korrigiert. Der Maschinen- und Anlagenhersteller profitiert dabei von einer automatisch erstellten, einheitlichen Dokumentation der Kundenanforderungen.   Errors during commissioning of machines and plants are costly and time intensive. The costs grow higher with every step of the development process. To minimize misunderstandings and planning errors during the requirements phase, an intelligent assistance system is being introduced which acquires the ideas, goals and resources of a customer in a simple manner and reactively corrects arising problems or ambiguities. The machine and plant manufacturer profits from the uniform documentation of customer requirements.

Workflow and Human-Centered Risk Analysis for Novel Mechatronic Rescue Aids II.

Paramedics face rising numbers of deployments every year. As obstacles like stairs occur often, paramedics must frequently manually carry patients and are thereby exposed to loads multitudes higher than recommended. This creates the need for patient transport aids (PTA), which can physically support paramedics in a wide variety of transport situations, without slowing down the transport. In this paper a workflow analysis for transport missions in an urban context and basic tasks for PTAs are presented. Subsequently, the high-level task modelling and human-centered risk analysis according to the HiFEM method are presented for the use case of a patient transport over stairs with a passive PTA, like a rescue chair, and an active PTA like the novel SEBARES prototype. The analysis shows that conventional PTA’s have a simple linear use process, however, impose excessive physical workloads, which cause risks like the paramedic or the PTA falling down the stairs. Contrary, active PTA’s reduce physical workloads, however, introduce additional concurrent steps, like identifying and correcting misalignments, which create further risks. In order to mitigate risks with active, stair climbing PTAs, either new kinematic designs or intelligent assistance functions, like automatic stair detection, are necessary.

Workflow and Human-Centered Risk Analysis for Novel Mechatronic Rescue Aids I.

Paramedics face rising numbers of deployments every year. As obstacles like stairs occur often, paramedics must frequently manually carry patients and are thereby exposed to loads multitudes higher than recommended. This creates the need for patient transport aids (PTA), which can physically support paramedics in a wide variety of transport situations, without slowing down the transport. In this paper a workflow analysis for transport missions in an urban context and basic tasks for PTAs are presented. Subsequently, the high-level task modelling and human-centered risk analysis according to the HiFEM method are presented for the use case of a patient transport over stairs with a passive PTA, like a rescue chair, and an active PTA like the novel SEBARES prototype. The analysis shows that conventional PTA’s have a simple linear use process, however, impose excessive physical workloads, which cause risks like the paramedic or the PTA falling down the stairs. Contrary, active PTA’s reduce physical workloads, however, introduce additional concurrent steps, like identifying and correcting misalignments, which create further risks. In order to mitigate risks with active, stair climbing PTAs either new kinematic designs or intelligent assistance functions, like automatic stair detection, are necessary.