Assistive exoskeleton suit shortlisted for prestigious engineering prize
A “first of its kind” exoskeleton suit has made the shortlist for The Engineer’s Collaborate To Innovate (C2I) Awards.
The SMART Suit is an innovative assistive device that is designed to help young people with disabilities use their arms and upper body.
University of Liverpool design researcher Dr Farnaz Nickpour and her team at the Inclusionaries Lab are working with Duchenne UK (DUK) and Spinal Muscular Atrophy UK (SMA UK) to develop the “transformative” assistive device, which will support and enhance upper body movement in children and young people with progressive neuromuscular diseases.
The project, which is supported with £1.25 million from the People’s Postcode Lottery Dream Fund, is an ambitious assistive technology design project with the potential to improve quality of life for a wide range of people with neuromuscular diseases and disabilities.
It aims to give people with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a progressive muscle-wasting disease that typically affects young boys, back their strength, independence, and dignity.
The C2I Awards celebrate the UK’s depth of engineering and design talent and the role that engineers and designers are playing in addressing some of the biggest challenges today. The SMART Suit is shortlisted in the Healthcare & Medical category.
Other innovations shortlisted in the C2I Awards Healthcare & Medical category include GaitSmart, a digital gait monitoring device; MediTel, a medical telexistence platform for hazardous environments; Northumbria Healthcare drone deliveries; and
The competition is judged by some of the leading figures in UK engineering and supported by organisations including Babcock International Group, Science and Technology Facilities Council, EPSRC, EngineeringUK, Megger, Hays Recruitment, Igus, and Ejot.
Winners will be announced at a ceremony on 29 February 2024.