Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) said on the 22nd that it developed an integrated evaluation technology that can check the performance and usability of wearable robots in advance without actual users having to wear them. The aim is to expand verification from the initial design stage of wearable robots by using a virtual environment.
Until now, the development process for wearable robots has largely relied on making a prototype and having people repeatedly test it by wearing it. The cycle of building equipment, conducting wearing tests, revising the design when problems were found, and then running additional tests repeated, creating heavy burdens in time and expense.
ETRI secured a "digital human–device twin-based integrated evaluation technology for wearable robots" to reduce these limitations. The technology precisely reproduces in virtual space the characteristics of users who need neural and musculoskeletal assistance, allowing the performance and user experience (UX) of a Wearable Device to be checked before actual transfer.
The research team also validated the technology's effectiveness. ETRI conducted joint experiments with the Glocal Clinical Validation Center at Pusan National University Hospital, comparing and analyzing clinical evaluations—such as strength enhancement, rehabilitation therapy, and five basic function tests performed by patients while wearing wearable robots—with simulation results based on a Digital Twin. By cross-referencing data gathered in the field with virtual evaluation results, the team confirmed the feasibility of applying the technology.
ETRI expects the technology to reduce the burden of large-scale subject recruitment and repeated wearing tests. Because performance and UX can be checked together from the design stage, it could help shorten development time, cut expense, and improve product completeness.
Yun Dae-seop, head of ETRI's AI Robot UX Research Laboratory, said, "We will expand the application of the Digital Twin source technology we secured this time to robot UX fields where user experience matters, such as rehabilitation robots, walking aids, and industrial wearable robots."