Dutch scientists have developed a wearable backpack that utilizes two gyroscopes to keep its wearer standing straight and stable.

Degenerative ataxias cause progressive cerebellar dysfunction, leading to gait and balance impairments. Patients are often dissatisfied with current assistive devices, such as walkers. The new wearable, dubbed GyroPack, is a gyroscopically-actuated, balance-assisting backpack. Its effects were evaluated in 14 individuals with degenerative ataxia using a single-blinded, sham-controlled study.

Participants completed five static and dynamic balance tasks under three conditions: baseline, sham, and assistive. In assistive mode, the GyroPack dampened trunk rotation; in sham mode, this effect was minimal. The GyroPack increased the average standing time when comparing assistive to baseline condition. While walking, it also reduced the variability of the trunk angular velocity and the extrapolated center of mass, both indicators for gait stability.

Dr. Jorik Nonnekes and associates at Radboud University Medical Center more recently enhanced the wearable for ataxia after Prof. Heike Vallery's team at the Delft University of Technology initially created it, reports New Atlas.

The earlier version of the device, which was much heavier and equipped with only a single control moment gyroscope, was tested in post-stroke individuals. The team showed that static balance performance, when standing on a beam, improved with the use of the gyroscopic backpack. However, they could not effectively blind participants to the different conditions, and the device required external weight support, limiting its implementation in daily life. Therefore, the researchers developed a lighter iteration: this device weighs only six kilograms and contains two control moment gyroscopes.

Related Dnsys Z1 Knee Exoskeleton Boosts Leg Strength By 50%

“We found that this novel device reduced trunk motion variability in healthy subjects and improved static and dynamic balance11. With two control moment gyroscopes, it is possible to create a sham condition, where the flywheels have opposing angular momentum vectors. While placebo/sham conditions are ubiquitous in other research paradigms, they are difficult to emulate for assistive devices given the current designs and methods of actuation. Nevertheless, considering a possible placebo-effect is important for a fair evaluation of a device’s efficacy,” the researchers said.

In the current study, they aimed to provide first proof-of-principle evidence of the efficacy of the GyroPack to improve balance performance in persons with moderate to advanced degenerative ataxia. The team used a single-blinded, sham-controlled cross-sectional study design.

"The backpack isn't yet suitable for everyday use, but in the future, it could potentially make daily life easier for people with ataxia, allowing them to go to a party, for example, without a walker, which some people find cumbersome," states Nonnekes. "This would provide much more freedom of movement and hopefully lead to a better quality of life."