SCOUT · Soft magnetic exoskin transducing human motion

Wearable robotics is undergoing a disruptive transition, from rigid exoskeletons to lightweight soft roboticexosuits, which have achieved remarkable results in human motor assistance and augmentation. These devices,however, still lack intuitive control approaches imposing additional cognitive load on their users. A futurewearable robot that can help us to walk, run, jump, dance, and restore independence in people with neuromuscularimpairments, requires the key ingredient to achieve the symbiotic connection between the user and the robot. In theclassical control strategy for wearable robots, inertial measurement units (IMUs) are often exploited to detectuser’s motion intention. Although the latter are valuable wearable tools, their reliability and accuracy are oftendebated, due to their drift and poor battery life (being powered), raising challenges for researchers and engineers toimprove their stability over time. The SCOUT project aims to break this technological bottleneck by developing anovel wearable artificial sensor system based on passive magnetic markers to detect human motion.Inspired by the natural human sensorimotor system, and exploiting recent advances in magnets localization, a softmagnetic exoskin will be designed to transduce joints motion of the user into decipherable magnetic fields. Thesewill be decoded by a central interpreting unit to have a real-time, reliable, and robust measure of human kinematicswithout the need of time-consuming parameter tuning and calibrations. Besides the intended benefit for currentwearable robots, this project could develop a novel human-machine interface with wide potential for a diverserange of applications, such as human motion analysis, ergonomics, virtual reality, and robotic teleoperation.