Last week, the new VIVO Hub for Enhanced Independent Living, funded by EPSRC, launched at Bristol Robotics Lab. The hub is working to develop healthcare technologies that restore the independence of older people and people with disabilities, by developing in-home, on-body physical assistance devices to enhance their lives. Foster + Partners is a project partner, working within the multi-disciplinary VIVO Hub team, to co-design the project.
The hub will work towards a new paradigm of smart materials-enabled mobility assistance to treat the most pressing healthcare issues that currently prevent older adults from living fulfilled and independent lives in their own homes. VIVO Hub devices include clothing that ‘puts itself on,’ smart garments to help prevent falls, and soft exosuits to help people get up from a chair, climb stairs and walk for longer. VIVO power clothing combines AI and digital monitoring technologies with on-body energy storage and power delivery to help people to go to the shops, meet friends and be active in their communities.
The hub brings together world leading research and technology experts in smart materials science, biomechanics, orthotics, biointerfacing, digital health monitoring, autonomous intervention, human-machine interaction, integrated patient involvement and co-design.
VIVO Hub is led by the University of Bristol with partners University of the West of England (UWE), University College London (UCL), Imperial College London and the University of Strathclyde. The team is working closely with the NHS, charities, care providers and industrial partners to develop the design of these devices.
Watch this short animation which explores the research project.