ETRI develops digital twin-based software for wearable robot evaluation

Source Domain: www.eurekalert.org

Korean researchers have succeeded in developing a technology that can verify performance and usability of wearable robots during the development process without requiring a person to physically wear the device. The technology developed this time is a wearable robot evaluation technology based on a “digital human-device twin,” and it is expected to dramatically transform the paradigm of wearable robot development in the future.

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced that it has developed “digital human-device twin-based integrated evaluation technology for wearable robots” that can pre-verify the performance and usability of wearable robots even without actual users wearing them.

Conventional wearable robot development required repeated wear tests with actual users following prototype fabrication, resulting in significant time and cost burdens. The process of creating a device, having users wear it, and conducting tests had to be repeated multiple times, with any issues necessitating redesign and additional testing.

The validity of the technology developed this time was verified through joint experiments with the Glocal Clinical Trial Center at Pusan National University Hospital. Reliable evaluation results were derived by comparing and analyzing the results of clinical evaluations conducted with actual patients wearing wearable robots to perform muscle strengthening, rehabilitation therapy, and five types of basic functional tests with digital twin-based simulation results.

A key feature of this technology is that it can verify the performance of wearable devices and user experience (UX) at the design stage, before actual wearing, by precisely simulating in a virtual environment a diverse range of users who need neurological and musculoskeletal assistance. As a result, it is expected to overcome the limitations of conventional development methods that have inevitably…

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