TY - GEN
T1 - EFFICIENT DIGITAL MODELING AND FABRICATION WORKFLOW FOR INDIVIDUALIZED ANKLE EXOSKELETONS
AU - Gebre, Biruk A.
AU - Nogueira, Rodrigo
AU - Patidar, Shubham
AU - Belle-Isle, Robert
AU - Nolan, Karen
AU - Pochiraju, Kishore
AU - Zanotto, Damiano
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright copy; 2021 by ASME.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - We introduce a new design method to tailor the physical structure of a powered ankle-foot orthosis to the wearer's leg morphology and improve fit. We present a digital modeling and fabrication workflow that combines scan-based design, parametric configurable modeling, and additive manufacturing (AM) to enable the efficient creation of personalized ankle-foot orthoses with minimal lead-time and explicit inputs. The workflow consists of an initial one-time generic modeling step to generate a parameterized design that can be rapidly configured to customizable shapes and sizes using a design table. This step is then followed by a wearer-specific personalization step that consists of performing a 3D scan of the wearer's leg, extracting key parameters of the wearer's leg morphology, generating a personalized design using the configurable parametric design, and digital fabrication of the individualized ankle-foot orthosis using additive manufacturing. The paper builds upon the design of the Stevens Ankle-Foot Electromechanical (SAFE) orthosis presented in prior work and introduces a new, individualized structural design (SAFE II orthosis) that is modeled and fabricated using the presented digital workflow. The workflow is demonstrated by designing a personalized ankle-foot orthosis for an individual based on 3D scan data and printing a personalized design to perform preliminary fit testing. Implications of the presented methodology for the design and fabrication of future personalized powered orthoses are discussed, along with avenues for future work.
AB - We introduce a new design method to tailor the physical structure of a powered ankle-foot orthosis to the wearer's leg morphology and improve fit. We present a digital modeling and fabrication workflow that combines scan-based design, parametric configurable modeling, and additive manufacturing (AM) to enable the efficient creation of personalized ankle-foot orthoses with minimal lead-time and explicit inputs. The workflow consists of an initial one-time generic modeling step to generate a parameterized design that can be rapidly configured to customizable shapes and sizes using a design table. This step is then followed by a wearer-specific personalization step that consists of performing a 3D scan of the wearer's leg, extracting key parameters of the wearer's leg morphology, generating a personalized design using the configurable parametric design, and digital fabrication of the individualized ankle-foot orthosis using additive manufacturing. The paper builds upon the design of the Stevens Ankle-Foot Electromechanical (SAFE) orthosis presented in prior work and introduces a new, individualized structural design (SAFE II orthosis) that is modeled and fabricated using the presented digital workflow. The workflow is demonstrated by designing a personalized ankle-foot orthosis for an individual based on 3D scan data and printing a personalized design to perform preliminary fit testing. Implications of the presented methodology for the design and fabrication of future personalized powered orthoses are discussed, along with avenues for future work.
KW - Active orthoses
KW - Additive manufacturing
KW - Personalized afo
KW - Rehabilitation robotics
KW - Scan-based design
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124401384&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85124401384&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1115/IMECE2021-70603
DO - 10.1115/IMECE2021-70603
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85124401384
T3 - ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Proceedings (IMECE)
BT - Biomedical and Biotechnology
T2 - ASME 2021 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, IMECE 2021
Y2 - 1 November 2021 through 5 November 2021
ER -