For achieving the scientific goals and delivering high-quality results, the outputs of each WP will adopt an agile development, integration and prototyping strategy, where the various framework components will be integrated and combined in four phases to implement the overall approach:
Phase 1 (M01–M12):Definition of the use cases and scenarios will elicit the user requirements, the ethics/regulation/social acceptance and system requirements, and define the system architecture and the system integration plan.
Phase 2 (M13–M24):Core system developments will be performed at a modular level. The alpha-prototype will be released following the integration guidelines. Evaluation with healthy participants will start with this prototype for identifying potential limitations and drawbacks.
Phase 3 (M25–M36):The beta-prototype development with complete functionality. The first version of the pilot study will take place, and the results are iteratively integrated into the development process.
Phase 4 (M37–M48):Evaluation of the beta-prototype will be executed. The project delivers concrete exploitation plans and ethico-legal analyses specific to the developed system. The integration process will be incremental thorough the evaluation and unit tests of the individual components against the use-cases definitions.
The project activities are planned over a 48-month period, and divided into 11 WPs. Management is organised under WP1, and WP11 is used for dissemination, exploitation as well as communication activities. WP2 involves healthcare providers, end-users and policy makers define our use cases and guide the R&D activities performed under WP3–WP9. WP3 develops the cognitive architecture including the digital twin design for the ReHyb system. WP4 and WP5 contribute to the hybrid exoskeleton by means of the powered exoskeleton development and FES model, respectively. WP6 uses shared control methods to regulate the outputs of WP4-5. WP7 designs the interface for cooperative HR interaction. WP8 integrates all the technical efforts and WP9 evaluates the system in components and in full to form an agile development process. WP10 analyses the ethico-legal issues surrounding the system and R&D.
