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Soft Robotic Wearable Restores Arm Function for People With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - Neuroscience News
Feb 04, 2023 1 min, 11 secs
Now, a team of researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has developed a soft robotic wearable capable of significantly assisting upper arm and shoulder movement in people with ALS.

“This study gives us hope that soft robotic wearable technology might help us develop new devices capable of restoring functional limb abilities in people with ALS and other diseases that rob patients of their mobility,” says Conor Walsh, senior author on Science Translational Medicine paper reporting the team’s work.

The team found that the soft robotic wearable—after a 30-second calibration process to detect each wearer’s unique level of mobility and strength—improved study participants’ range of motion, reduced muscle fatigue, and increased performance of tasks like holding or reaching for objects.

In partnership with MGH neurologist Leigh Hochberg, principal investigator of the BrainGate Neural Interface System, the team is exploring potential versions of assistive wearables whose movements could be controlled by signals in the brain.

“Looking into people’s eyes as they performed tasks and experienced movement using the wearable, hearing their feedback that they were overjoyed to suddenly be moving their arm in ways they hadn’t been able to in years, it was a very bittersweet feeling.”

We present a lightweight, fully portable, textile-based, soft inflatable wearable robot for shoulder elevation assistance that provides dynamic active support to the upper limbs.

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