Motivation & Goal
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders affecting the lower limbs are a major occupational health problem across industries like logistics, retail, and construction. Despite 50 years of R&D, existing active exoskeletons have not achieved widespread adoption due to heavy rigid structures, bulky actuators, poor biomechanical alignment, uncomfortable interfaces, and slow donning/doffing. No market solution currently exists that provides active, flexible, textile-based assistance to both the lumbar region and lower limbs across a range of demanding industrial tasks.
The goal of ExoTI is to develop a fully flexible, textile-based active exosuit — worn as a legging — that provides personalized musculoskeletal assistance to workers, targeting increases in user strength and reductions in physical effort.
Approach
The project combines three research areas, developed by a consortium of LMA (textile industry leader), UMINHO (research), and Fibrenamics (materials innovation):
Mechanical/Textile: A 100% textile, multi-material, bio-inspired interface, integrating a single SMA (shape memory alloy) spring actuator for synergistic lower-limb assistance.
Actuation: A lightweight SMA actuator is designed through hierarchical optimization, with active heating/cooling systems modelled to achieve high bandwidths, overcoming the main limitation of SMA actuators.
Digital/Control: AI-based tools are developed to (i) predict motor intention across multiple tasks using non-intrusive sensors (ii) assess physical effort in real time, and (iii) generate personalized assistance.
Application Scenarios
The primary use case is the logistics sector, where workers perform repetitive and physically demanding tasks such as prolonged standing, forward bending, squatting, and carrying heavy loads. The exosuit is validated in real workplace settings. Longer-term target sectors include retail, transport, construction, hospital care, and assisted living/rehabilitation.
Innovations & Contributions
The project claims five key innovations, each addressing a gap in the state of the art:
- Active occupational exosuit with flexible textile interface for lumbar and lower-limb assistance.
- Lightweight SMA textile actuator with high force-deformation performance and improved bandwidth through active heating/cooling.
- Non-intrusive prediction tools for multiple industrial tasks using only exosuit-integrated sensors.
- Intelligent human-in-the-loop control adapting assistance simultaneously to motor intention, muscle effort, and metabolic cost.
- Hybrid SMA actuator control incorporating complete models of SMAs.
Grants
Project co-funded by the NORTE 2030 Regional Programme, NORTE2030-FEDER-02965900.
