Find real-time muscle movements
Muscle control based on user movements
All physical activities can be assisted


A technology that controls muscles and joints electrically as the wearer desires to assist with daily activities and muscle development has been developed by domestic researchers.

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced on the 23rd that it has developed a walking assistance system that allows the wearer to move joints as desired by electrically stimulating muscle activity signals generated from the muscles.

By attaching a patch to the desired muscle location and engaging in activity, the system identifies the user's intended movement and naturally controls it, enabling a high degree of freedom and comfort. Applicable to all physical activities, it is expected to be helpful in managing sarcopenia in the elderly, improving mobility in rehabilitation patients, and improving gait disturbances.

Since the muscles in our body contract even with a small amount of electric current, we can induce artificial muscle contraction through electricity.

Low-frequency stimulators, EMS equipment, and physical therapy devices utilize this principle, but their operating times and patterns are pre-programmed. This limits their effectiveness, as they often fail to understand user intent or only allow repetitive movements.

The research team developed a technology that can assist movement by identifying the user's intention in real time from muscle signals and providing microscopic electrical signals (5-35 mA) appropriate for each user to the muscles. This is a method of controlling muscle contraction through electrical stimulation while identifying joint direction and movement intensity from signals generated from muscles when the user moves.

To determine the effectiveness of assisting physical activity, the research team attached the system to eight lower extremity muscles in elderly people and conducted a two-year exploratory clinical trial to improve walking function through a commissioned study with Samyuk University.

The results of the experiment showed improvements in physical function assessment scores when walking and climbing stairs, as well as a decrease in muscle use and energy requirements. The improvements included a 13% increase in walking speed, increased muscle mass, and a marked improvement in ground reaction force, leading to a more normalized gait.

The research team explained that they were able to achieve this result by developing an algorithm that improves the accuracy of detecting spontaneous muscle activation signals among various complex muscle activation signals to 98%.

The walking assistance system developed this time is composed of a 17 × 6 cm sized patch that acquires data and instructs calculations and electrical signals, a sensor that senses muscle signals, an electrical stimulation module, and a controller.

It weighs approximately 950g including the battery, making it comfortable to wear. Currently, the electrodes are connected by wires so that they can be attached to the desired location, but in the future, when commercialized, they will also be wireless.

ETRI's Shin Hyeong-cheol, head of the Human Augmentation Research Lab, said, "We plan to research ways to make the developed module lighter and utilize it with artificial muscles for future commercialization."

Meanwhile, the research team plans to collect clinical trial data on exercise conditions and muscles, further refine the results, and pursue technology transfer to relevant companies. They are also conducting research that combines the use of other strength-enhancing and assistive methods, such as wire drive.