About this project 

Innovative Wearable Technology to Mitigate and Monitor Tremors

Tremors in the human body can significantly impact the quality of life of individuals, leading to social discomfort and difficulty performing daily tasks. Conditions such as Parkinson's disease frequently cause tremors in affected patients. An estimated 200,000 individuals in Brazil currently live with the disease, a number projected to double by 2030.

Current therapies for controlling these tremors often involve using orthoses and devices. However, many of these devices are based on additional mass functionality, viscosity, damping, electrical control, or other variations that may result in discomfort, limited movement, and inefficient vibrational control for the user.

In response to these challenges, a groundbreaking project has been initiated to develop an innovative wearable technology capable of mitigating and monitoring tremors in the human body. This technology utilizes metamaterial and programmable metastructures specifically designed for a specific part of the human limbs. Initial laboratory validations have already demonstrated a good attenuation level by using that metastructure within the frequency range of Parkinson's disease tremors (3 to 12 Hz). However, further rigorous testing and refinement of the technology's design are still under investigation. In addition, this research proposal seeks to establish a multidisciplinary group focused on developing research in various mechanical, electrical, and biomechanical aspects of this theme, driving innovation and progress in Parkinson's disease treatment.

The specific objectives of this proposal include

1.  Implementing a biomechanical model of the arm considering different excitation spectra that simulate the different tremor levels.

2.  Determining the type of control, selecting the correct failure criteria, and finding a good compromise between the reliability and cost of the metamaterials.

3.  Designing the metamaterials considering different aspects and investigating the ideal topology in tremor control.

4.   A test prototype of the tremor control and monitoring technology will be produced based on human limb characteristics, elevating the technology level.

This proposal has an interdisciplinary nature, and its execution will form an interdisciplinary research group whose objective is to work on the project and optimization of smart materials and metamaterials for application in bioengineering.

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