CONSULTANCY FOR THE CALCULATION OF EXOSKELETON DESIGN VARIANTS USING NUMERICAL MODELLING AND HPC INFRASTRUCTURE

Partner: MEBSTER

field: HEALTHCARE

MEBSTER is a research & development company that uses its available technologies to help medical care providers to improve and streamline their services for their clients with mobility disorders. MEBSTER enables individual clients to create healthy habits and motivates them to actively improve their quality of life. It is comprised of an international team of engineers, doctors, and physiotherapists that are based in the Czech Republic. They have been intensively involved in developing innovative assistive technologies and medical devices for rehabilitation for more than six years. They design their devices in direct cooperation with users, and their research is solely patient-centred. They rigorously test all of their products to ensure they are as simple and as comfortable as possible, while collaborating with a team of world experts to set trends in their industry.

The subject of MEBSTER's consultation with the National Competence Centre for HPC was a numerical solution study of several possible design variants of a part of the innovative UNILEXA exoskeleton. The exoskeleton has a sophisticated design that supports walking for people with partial or total loss of lower limb function. It is subject to strict criteria in terms of safety and trouble-free functionality, as well as versatility of use. Also, people with varying physical constitutions should be able to use the UNILEXA exoskeleton. These criteria require a costly and repetitive cycle for the production of new or modified parts and their testing.

The solution is a computational model based on the finite element method (FEM). Different numerical models consisting of dozens of individual parts (bolts, springs, rods, etc.) had to be simulated separately under the same boundary conditions to assess which are optimal in terms of production and safety. The number of individual parts and their arrangement with each other have generally required the use of contact methods to successfully solve the problems.

The UNILEXA exoskeleton is a medical device that is subject to strict regulations. In order to be placed on the market, the product must pass a series of simulations and tests. Since testing medical devices is very costly and time-consuming, simulations are used. These reduce the overall cost of prototyping, and help to identify opportunities for optimisation in terms of the weight, usability, and the cost of manufacturing and servicing the UNILEXA exoskeleton. The proposed design can therefore become more attractive to the customer, and if it does the same job as other exoskeletons, the competitiveness of the UNILEXA product in the market is increased.