Wearable Motion Enhancement

Recent advances in assistive technologies have provided technical aids to augment athletes’ muscle strength or to rehabilitate disabled individuals. To support human motions in a safe and acceptable manner, knowledge of the human musculoskeletal dynamics and three-dimensional models of human sensation and motion are helpful for performing subjective evaluations and realizing an intuitive, safe, and easy-to-use design. A team from from Hiroshima University has developed the Sensorimotor Enhancing Suit (SEnS), a prototype for wearable equipment to support human motion.  Inexpensive because it is made of flexible fabrics using regular cloth and does not include any electronic devices, SE7nS enhances sensorimotor functions by reducing the muscle load of the upper limbs. The researchers are hopeful that SEnS will assist human sensorimotor functions to improve the quality of life of not only elderly individuals – but healthy people who work under extreme conditions.