Contacts: Marta Gandolla, Andrea Dal Prete, Ali KhalilianMotamed Bonab
Location: Politecnico di Milano (Bovisa Campus) – Scuola Sant’Anna di Pisa
Motivation of the study. Musculoskeletal disorders are a major concern in jobs involving repetitive lifting, as they increase spinal loading, fatigue, and the risk of back injuries. Back support exoskeletons (BEs) aim to reduce these risks by lowering spinal loads and muscular effort.
Soft designs provide comfort and mobility but limited force, while rigid ones offer stronger support but reduce user acceptance. Recent advances point to hybrid solutions, combining the flexibility of soft systems with the strength of rigid frameworks, making them promising for broader real-world adoption.
Objective. At the Mechanical Engineering Department of Polimi we have developed SBLINK (Smart Back exoskeleton LINK), a modular back exoskeleton where rigid elements are connected by elastic components. This hybrid architecture combines the support of rigid systems with the flexibility of soft ones. A first prototype has been 3D-printed, but further refinement is needed, especially in integrating cable-driven actuation.
The next phase will optimize the rigid modules to better follow the spine’s natural motion and assess the feasibility of active, passive, or hybrid cable-driven strategies. The refined prototype will then undergo testing to evaluate both its mechanical effectiveness and user acceptance.
Things to know (if you agree to start the thesis):
This thesis requires relocation to the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna campus in Pisa for part or all of the project.
We will share codes through GitHub to continuously share and keep correct versioning for the code
You will need to write the thesis using Overleaf (template shared by the supervisor)
You will need to accept the invitation to the shared folder by the supervisor and place there all ORDERED material of the thesis (e.g., relevant literature, relevant code, relevant data, etc.). This folder will be your Delivery pack before graduation.
You will be included in the biomecc team meetings where we discuss experimental protocols and ongoing projects with the lab team.
Thesis duration is approximately 6-9 months. You’ll be required to respect the timeline at the best of your possibilities.