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Human-in-the-loop development of soft wearable robots

Nature Reviews Materials volume 3, pages 78–80 (2018)Cite this article

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The field of soft wearable robotics offers the opportunity to wear robots like clothes to assist the movement of specific body parts or to endow the body with functionalities. Collaborative efforts of materials, apparel and robotics science have already led to the development of wearable technologies for physical therapy. Optimizing the human–robot system by human-in-the-loop approaches will pave the way for personalized soft wearable robots for a variety of applications.

It is exciting to imagine a future in which soft wearable robots can be worn underneath clothing. This would enable a paradigm change in how we assist healthy individuals (for example, by providing support to soldiers overburdened by heavy loads) and patients with mobility impairments (for example, by eliminating the need for canes, plastic braces and walkers). A rapidly increasing number of academic and industry groups are working on the development of soft robotic component technologies and integrated soft wearable robot systems. Soft wearable robots will not replace traditional rigid exoskeletons that are emerging as a valuable clinical tool for patients with severe impairments, but will instead offer complementary capabilities for applications which require soft systems.

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Fig. 1: Human-in-the-loop development of soft wearable robots.

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Acknowledgements

This Comment is based on knowledge gained from working with a fantastic multidisciplinary team and collaborators with backgrounds in robotics, functional apparel design, industrial design, material science, manufacturing, biomechanics and physical therapy as well as generous support from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

Competing interests

The author is listed as a co-inventor on patents and patent application filed by Harvard University that cover soft wearable robot concepts. In addition, Harvard University has entered into a licensing and collaboration agreement with ReWalk Robotics and the author is a paid consultant to ReWalk Robotics.

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  1. John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Conor Walsh

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  1. Conor Walsh
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Correspondence to Conor Walsh.

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Walsh, C. Human-in-the-loop development of soft wearable robots. Nat Rev Mater 3, 78–80 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-018-0011-1

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