Extracorporeal Closed-Loop Respiratory Regulation for Patients With Respiratory Difficulty Using a Soft Bionic Robot

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Robotics
• Respiratory Physiology

Background:

• Conventional ventilators can cause long-term dependence and injury in patients with respiratory dysfunction.
• Existing extracorporeal respiratory assistance methods lack biomimetic capabilities compared to natural human breathing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a bionic soft exoskeleton robot for extracorporeal closed-loop respiratory regulation.
• To emulate natural human breathing patterns for respiratory assistance.

Main Methods:

• A soft vacuum chamber and origami array were used to create negative and positive thoracic pressure, respectively.
• A wireless respiratory monitoring device was developed and validated against spirometry for accurate respiratory profiling.
• A human-robot coupled respiratory mechanical model informed the design of a proportional controller for real-time tracking.

Main Results:

• The exoskeleton robot successfully adjusted assistive forces in real-time.
• Experiments with healthy participants and those with respiratory difficulty demonstrated the system's ability to drive the human-robot coupled respiratory system to track target profiles.

Conclusions:

• The biomimetic soft exoskeleton robot can achieve effective extracorporeal closed-loop respiratory regulation.
• This technology holds significant potential for assisting respiration in both hospital and home settings for individuals with respiratory difficulties.