Rocky road to refinement

Days passed…

Stuck hard to my design guidelines I was still away from even a tiny sketch of the device. I was sure the direction but the horizon was covered by haze. I could recognize the overall shape but unable to see in details. And the devil is in the details.

Working with form is like sculpting in clay; early stages of process give more freedom in reshaping but often it’s double-edge sword: you end up a day devastated by endless versions of nothing. And there’s no place for shortcuts. You can go on with refinement and detailing ONLY after previous stage is done. Every missed step will be only magnified by the next ones.

I experimented a little with double bar design similar to Magic Arms, but being still unsatisfied I came up with the idea of hiding whole positioning “drive train”. This is what I like! The devices that are hard to figure out how they actually work! I did one more design choice: to achieve 180 degrees of motion. Its unnecessary in orthopedic applications but good thing in further development. If nature is excessive so do I! Exoskeletons are one of the purest examples of mimicking nature and it’s good thing to keep in mind dealing with them.

Another thing I had to face up was indescribable lack of space. I don’t consider myself as an artist but always try to do engineering in arty way. I wanted slick design period. Fitting everything in 30mm tubes and not very larger end connectors wasn’t an easy task and required angelic patience and some evil spells.

Finally something started to emerge from nonentity mist. I was quite happy with the shape it took.

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Deeper into mechanics

Lets take a closer look into the mechanics of the device. First of all: how to transfer moment from distant counterweight to arm module? Simple answer: by cable. OK, it’s just the beginning of “The Cable Story”. I don’t mean electric wire – the device had to be mechanical only, no motors allowed! Other type of cable is Bowden cable that transmits mechanical force or energy. In some aspects similar to double rod design but flexible . Flexibility means total freedom of placing active device – on the back of wheelchair, on tripod, under the bed. And saves space around passive device at the same time, so helps in achieving second goal – opportunity of mounting directly to corset. I was asking myself if it would work, it should, but thanks to rapid prototyping I could empirically test it. I speed-designed and 3d printed proof-of-concept prototype with 5mm bike derailleurs cables. It works but bike metal cords are to stiff to be used in next prototypes. I didn’t n

Assembling

Having all those pieces everything I had to do was put them together. The prototype contains 3D printed parts in three different technologies: SLA , SLS and FDM on a pair with standardized parts and even sewed padding. Assembling was a bit like jigsaw but done same way as simulated in Fusion 360 design software and took about 20 minutes. Passive module (mounted on hand) weights 350g and is way too heavy to be mounted directly on corset. Moreover, most users will be in half sitting position with head support right behind them. Following advice of physiotherapy experts, orthopedists and parents I added simple tripod mount to be used with Manfrotto Mini Arm and mounted at the back of any chair. After first try-on (without counterweights) the feedback was very positive. The device follows natural arm movement and doesn’t lock in any position. Looks as if it’s indeed more resistant to misalignment than Magic and Angel Arms. The prototype padding could be better, ladder locks and

Design choices

Recently I had opportunity to talk with two SMA child families and discuss issues in existing exoskeleton solutions. Before that, they mentioned rubber bands of Angel Arms and Magic Arms are difficult to setup, and change its characteristics over time. I came out with a new idea and wanted to verify it with them. I prepared some generic images of concepts and ask the parents to choose the most comfortable in their opinion. I tried not to bias their decisions, and restrict myself to raw description. A-B test used with parents They agreed elimination of rubber bands and separation active and passive modules were good starting point. I did several design choices to follow: the device should be fully mechanical the device should be counterweight driven the active (counterweight) module should be separated from passive (exoskeleton) module passive device (exoskeleton) could be mounted to corset forearm axis should be always

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