Oom Bop Bop Good Vibrations: the use of sensory feedback to create motion inhibition

The use of suits that restrict or inhibit joint motion have been used to aid the design of various kinds of products from cars to wheelchairs and kitchen equipment. Their principal aim has been to allow designers and engineers to understand what it is like to use these products as an older person might use them, effectively prematurely ageing the user. Such suits have been highly successful but suffer several limitations in their use. In using mechanical stiffeners on the joints such as the stiffening effect of the suits depends on the strength of the user; weaker users will find their range of motion reduced more than stronger users. This also raises the question of the sensitivity of such suits; in reality motion restriction may be linked to pain and discomfort hence motion restriction is likely to be more psychological and musko-skeletal than current suits provide. Work has been ongoing at SHU to develop a suit that restricts motion by providing sensory feedback to the user. Specialist software was developed which set motion limits to goniometers which in turn would make motors vibrate if those limits were reached. This work outlines the development of this suit and initial applications for which it has been used.