Patent ID: 11883343
Assignee: ETH ZURICH
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 19:
20. A soft wearable muscle assisting device according to claim 1, further comprising:
at least one element controllable via electrical signals during assistance to a user;
a sensor component configured to provide signals indicative of a need of a user for assistance,
a control configured to provide electrical signals during assistance to a user in response to signals provided by the sensor component and indicative of a need of the user for assistance;
the sensor component comprises at least a first sensor and a second sensor both configured to provide sensor signals indicative of at least one of:
an absolute orientation of a limb or a part of a limb;
an orientation of a limb or part of a limb relative to another part of a body;
a joint angle; and
at least one of a position, a velocity, and an acceleration of a body part;

the first and second sensors spaced apart from each other such that, in use, one of:
at least one joint is present between the first and second sensor; and
the first and second sensors are provided at neighboring joints;

a signal conditioning circuit is provided to input at least two streams of respective sensor signals into the control, the first stream of sensor signals providing, during a cycle of movements of a body part, at least ten different values temporally of sensor signals in response to sensor signals from the first sensor and the second stream of sensor signals providing, during a cycle of movements of a body part, at least ten different spaced apart values of sensor signals in response to sensor signals from the second sensor; and
the control being configured:
to identify a current need for assistance in response to the at least two streams of sensor signals by evaluating, during the cyclic movement, a plurality of values from both streams; and
at least one of:
to generate activation signals for muscle assisting actuators during at least 10% of the movement cycle time;
at least two different levels of at least one of activation and of assistance; and
at least four different levels of at least one of activation and of assistance.