i2AFO

Flexible, wearable circuits

Recent innovations have made stretchable electronic circuits a reality. Electronics can be embedded in plastic sheets that can be shaped by heat into almost any desired shape without harming the electronic elements. These new technologies pose unique opportunities for medtech applications, such as personalized and mass-producible smart wearables. Other sectors poised to benefit from this technology include automotive, gaming, lighting, architecture and those involving user interfaces.

Intelligent patient monitoring

An ankle-foot orthosis is targeted in the i2AFO project, as these have been made using the vacuum thermoforming technique for decades and the process is well understood. AFOs pose unique follow-up and monitoring problems, since doctors are unable to observe their effectiveness in everyday life outside of a complex laboratory. Adding sensors to AFOs composed of thermoformed and stretchable elements makes them intelligent and offers an optimized way for medical professionals to monitor their patients. Until recently, prototypes of AFOs that incorporated sensors were both uncomfortable and impractical.

Clinically-validated technology

The i2AFO consortium has identified four main technical goals:

• successfully incorporate electronics into a thermoformable plastic sheet;
• integrate sensors, electronics, data processing and wireless transmission capabilities;
• design algorithms that map sensor data to orthotic movement;
• validate the orthotic in a clinical setting for at least three patients.

Multidisciplinary expertise in human health and computing

Partnerships with local hospitals will supply the gait and kinetic modeling expertise, along with specialized clinical environments needed for AFO validation. Technology collaborators bring sensors, data processing, deformable electronic circuitry, wireless communication and orthotics design to the project.