From humanoid robotics to exoskeletons for helping the medical staff in the ICU during COVID-19 -WIE ILC 2021

Thanks to my expertise in humanoid simulation, exoskeletons and ergonomics, I identified that back-support exoskeletons could be helpful in this situation. I rapidly set the ExoTurn project, a collaboration between the Hospital, my team and INRS (French public institute for health and safety at work) to provide the medical staff with the right exoskeleton that could physically assist them in their tasks. In 10 days we designed and conducted a pilot study, then selected a candidate exoskeleton to be used in the ICU. Not only our solution helped in the first wave of the pandemic (April 2020) but it was also quickly adopted in the second wave (October - November 2020). In this talk, I will present the research that have been doing in humanoids control, human simulation, ergonomics and exoskeletons that was instrumental for ExoTurn."