Chapter 5
Service Design of Rehabilitative
Exoskeleton for Sustainable Value
Creation: A Case Study of Stroke
Rehabilitation in China
Jing Tao and Suiran Yu
Abstract Stroke is characterized by high morbidity and high disability rate. Physical rehabilitation can effectively alleviate functional disability of stroke patients, and
thus reduce potential nursing costs and save social resources. Given the prominent
conflicts between limited resources provision-especially the qualified rehabilitative
personnel-and the huge demands of rehabilitation, China is now actively encouraging
R&D as well as popularization and application of rehabilitation robots. Aside from
the design of rehabilitative exoskeleton itself, which is the focus of most studies in
this era, the service design is also critical if rehabilitative exoskeletons are to realize
the declared social-economic benefits. Service design may provide solutions to wider
and fairer access to exoskeleton, better affordability and satisfaction of exoskeletonbased treatments, while creates monetary or non-monetary benefits for manufacturers, medical facilitates and other possible stakeholders. This study is focused
on rehabilitative exoskeleton value creation. The service design of rehabilitative
exoskeleton for stroke patients, which is considered the most promising application
era of exoskeleton technology in China, are exploited based on the national conditions. First, sustainable value was conceptualized based on the understanding of value
from the sustainable view point that includes economic, social and environmental
perspectives. Then, the application scenarios of stroke patients’ exoskeleton-based
rehabilitation were developed based on China’s multi-level rehabilitation service
delivery system. In accordance to a modular product architecture, the service design
of rehabilitative exoskeleton driven by sustainable value requirements with life cycle
considerations was presented. The proposed sustainable value-driven service design
may provide insights to rehabilitative exoskeleton developers and manufacturers in
servitization of the emerging technology.
Keywords Rehabilitative exoskeleton · Service design · Sustainable value · Life
cycle
J. Tao · S. Yu (B)
School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, People’s Republic
of China
e-mail: sryu@sjtu.edu.cn
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Y. Kishita et al. (eds.), EcoDesign and Sustainability I, Sustainable Production, Life Cycle
Engineering and Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6779-7_5
59
Service Design of Rehabilitative
Exoskeleton for Sustainable Value
Creation: A Case Study of Stroke
Rehabilitation in China
Jing Tao and Suiran Yu
Abstract Stroke is characterized by high morbidity and high disability rate. Physical rehabilitation can effectively alleviate functional disability of stroke patients, and
thus reduce potential nursing costs and save social resources. Given the prominent
conflicts between limited resources provision-especially the qualified rehabilitative
personnel-and the huge demands of rehabilitation, China is now actively encouraging
R&D as well as popularization and application of rehabilitation robots. Aside from
the design of rehabilitative exoskeleton itself, which is the focus of most studies in
this era, the service design is also critical if rehabilitative exoskeletons are to realize
the declared social-economic benefits. Service design may provide solutions to wider
and fairer access to exoskeleton, better affordability and satisfaction of exoskeletonbased treatments, while creates monetary or non-monetary benefits for manufacturers, medical facilitates and other possible stakeholders. This study is focused
on rehabilitative exoskeleton value creation. The service design of rehabilitative
exoskeleton for stroke patients, which is considered the most promising application
era of exoskeleton technology in China, are exploited based on the national conditions. First, sustainable value was conceptualized based on the understanding of value
from the sustainable view point that includes economic, social and environmental
perspectives. Then, the application scenarios of stroke patients’ exoskeleton-based
rehabilitation were developed based on China’s multi-level rehabilitation service
delivery system. In accordance to a modular product architecture, the service design
of rehabilitative exoskeleton driven by sustainable value requirements with life cycle
considerations was presented. The proposed sustainable value-driven service design
may provide insights to rehabilitative exoskeleton developers and manufacturers in
servitization of the emerging technology.
Keywords Rehabilitative exoskeleton · Service design · Sustainable value · Life
cycle
J. Tao · S. Yu (B)
School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, People’s Republic
of China
e-mail: sryu@sjtu.edu.cn
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Y. Kishita et al. (eds.), EcoDesign and Sustainability I, Sustainable Production, Life Cycle
Engineering and Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6779-7_5
59