Download or read book Development of a Home based Computer Assisted Arm Rehabilitation hCAAR Device for Upper Limb Exercises in Stroke Patients written by Manoj Sivan and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Bilateral Upper Limb Rehabilitation Device for Home Use written by Yupu Wang and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current upper limb rehabilitation for stroke patients is based on a conventional physical therapy supervised by therapists. The most of the robot-based rehabilitation is developing under a bulky machine which is not suitable for home use. High rehabilitation fees and inconvenience in use lead patients from ordinary home to miss the suitable time in rehabilitation. This research explores an end-effector device which is light and suitable for the home environment. By balancing the contradiction of device function achievement and ordinary home use, this 3 DOF rehabilitation device is the appropriate choice for the current situation. Different with other low-cost devices in the markets, it can provide an assistant force in the recovery process. It makes severe patients can take passive rehabilitation exercises under totally device leading and minor stroke patients take active rehabilitation exercises by their own intention. After studying the upper limb motions in normal physical actions, the joint movement in those motions is discussed with details. Some effective recovery tasks are achieved by analyzing the conventional physical exercise for stroke. The research of human-machine interaction is conducted to reveal a method in interaction tasks design. The new version of device is designed and has the potential for better performance in structural stability, but the development in software and testing of new strategies are implemented on the old version because of funding issue. Different recovery patterns with different control strategies are exploited and compared in this article to select the appropriate training model in upper limb rehabilitation. The approach of novel human-machine interface, control strategy and upper limb recovery strategy built in this research offers a potential inspiration in upper limb rehabilitation device development.

Download or read book Development of an Upper Limb Rehabilitation Device for Home Use written by Chung-che Wei and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stroke is a serious medical condition that often involves the death of the recipient. Although fatality is not definite, many stroke survivors tend to suffer the inconvenience of losing the functions of their limbs. Studies have shown that task oriented recursive movements can help stroke affected individuals to recover mobility of their damaged limbs. Manual therapy used to make stroke patients recover movement is successful, but robot-assisted therapy excels in many fields including accuracy and repeatability. Many currently available rehabilitation robots share common disaffections of being overly complex, costly and voluminous. A compact and inexpensive upper limb rehabilitation device was therefore developed in this study to provide stroke therapy to the general public. For the developed rehabilitation device, DC motors were selected as the actuator of the system for their high power and torque capabilities. PID controller was implemented for control of motor position, while trapezoidal velocity profile was employed for motor speed control. Sensors such as accelerometers, encoders and strain gauges were utilized to provide detailed data of the rehabilitator and various onboard components. Safety was enforced with both boundary walls and limit switches, as well as software controlled emergency stop. Microcontrollers were used as the system controllers, with a main Master microcontroller handling system operations while two Slave microcontrollers were dedicated to the control of the DC motors. A GUI was developed for the PC to allow interfacing and control of the rehabilitator. The program permits tuning of various robot parameters, and offers different therapy modes as well as an interactive game. The upper limb rehabilitation device developed has followed the set specifications and achieved the desired performance. The rehabilitator is capable of producing successful trajectory runs with a maximum error of 5 mm at low speed (1.88 rad/s) and 6 mm at high speed (3.77 rad/s) under no load condition. Similar results were also obtained maximum deviation of 4 mm at low speed and 6 mm at high speed under arm loaded setup.

Download or read book SHECARE written by Mohamad Hoda and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is well known that home exercise is as good as rehab center. Unfortunately, passive devices such as dumbbells, elastic bands, stress balls and tubing that have been widely used for home-based arm rehabilitation do not provide therapists with the information needed to monitor the patient's progress, identify any impairment, and suggest treatments. Moreover, the lack of interactivity of these devices turns the rehabilitation exercises into a boring, unpleasant task. In this thesis, we introduce a family of home-based post-stroke rehabilitation systems aimed at solving the aforementioned problems. We call such applications: "Shared Haptic Environment on the Cloud for Arm Rehabilitation Exercises (SHECARE)". The systems combine recent rehabilitation approaches with efficient, yet affordable skeleton tracking input technologies, and multimodal interactive computer environment. In addition, the systems provide a real-time feedback to the stroke patients, summarize the feedback after each session, and predict the overall recovery progress. Moreover, these systems show a new style of home-based rehabilitation approach that motivate the patients by engaging the whole family and friends in the rehabilitation process and allow the therapists to remotely assess the progress of the patients and adjust the training strategy accordingly. Two mathematical models have been presented in this thesis. The first model is developed to find the relationship between upper extremity kinematics and the associated forces/strength. The second model is used to evaluate the medical condition of the stroke patients and predict their recovery progress depending on their performance history. The objective assessments, clinical tests, and the subjective assessments, usability studies have shown the feasibility of the proposed systems for rehabilitation in stroke patients with upper limb motor dysfunction.

Download or read book An Intelligent Bilateral System for Upper limb Rehabilitation Based on Industrial Robots written by Bo Sheng and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Robot-assisted rehabilitation solutions are being proposed as therapeutic adjuncts to facilitate clinical applications in recent decades. They would allow therapists to be emancipated from physically intensive work, and more advanced and interesting rehabilitation training could become accessible to patients with low cost. To date, several rehabilitation devices have been developed or revised to perform bilateral exercises. A new therapy method has been proposed in recent decades, based on the finding that bilateral exercises might promote functional improvement through the reinforcement of corticospinal pathways from the intact hemisphere to the affected arm. However, the safety and reliability of existing bilateral rehabilitation devices is yet to be confirmed, and the cost will be high if the device is expected to provide true bilateral exercises in three-dimensional (3D) space. The goal of this dissertation is therefore to develop a new bilateral rehabilitation system for upper-limb rehabilitation, aiming for safe, stable, and interesting bilateral training for stroke survivors. Some biological data can be measured objectively and in a timely fashion through the proposed bilateral rehabilitation system, which would be analysed to assess recovery stages and further explore bilateral recovery processes. The proposed bilateral rehabilitation system has been developed, validated and utilised in four studies discussed in this thesis. The first one is to develop an industrial robot-based bilateral rehabilitation device for upper limbs including hardware and software, which should be capable of providing a safe and stable training environment. The second one is to develop an intelligent bilateral training subsystem, which is expected to provide true robot-assisted bilateral exercises to cover different recovery stages. The third one is to explore muscle activation patterns during different bilateral training based on the proposed bilateral device and training protocols. These muscle activation patterns can be used as the foundation for the development of bilateral devices, training protocols, and assessment criteria. The last one is to develop a biological signal-based evaluator, which can select different training protocols according to personal biological data. So far, a total of 18 healthy participants have been recruited for evaluating the proposed bilateral rehabilitation system (13 participants tested the device and 5participants tested the evaluator). The results of the experiment show that the proposed bilateral rehabilitation device is safe and stable, the training protocols are reliable and interesting, and the evaluator is objective and time-saving. Meanwhile, the muscle activation patterns gathered using the system are informative, which can help in understanding the cooperation mechanism of each pair of muscles under different bilateral training conditions, and further evaluate the effectiveness of robot-assisted bilateral training. In summary, the developed bilateral rehabilitation system and a comprehensive and systematic study from this work has demonstrated that such a system has the potential for clinical applications with safe, reliable, stimulating, and informative bilateral exercises.

Download or read book Development of Discrete Event System DES based Controller for Robot assisted Upper Limb Rehabilitation Platform written by Sado Fatai and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Wearable Rehabilitation Robotics for Upper Limb Stroke Recovery and Examining Electrophysiological Response written by Melissa Sandison and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stroke is the leading cause of severe long-term disability worldwide. A commonly reported disability is hemiparesis. Impairments of the upper limb inhibit the individual's ability to perform activities of daily living; High-dose repetitive practice of functional tasks is important for recovery after stroke. This type of training is labor-intensive.Additionally, many stroke patients cannot complete traditional physical therapy due to the severity of their motor impairments. Robotics offers an alternative approach whereby assistance is provided via forces applied to the limb, allowing high dose and repetitive completion of movements that would otherwise be impossible to complete unassisted. However, even with the standardized rehabilitation programs that stakeholders implemented with robotic therapy, patients demonstrate variance in response to treatment due to the heterogeneous damage to the brain during the stroke. Subsequently, three studies investigated wearable robotics for stroke upper limb rehabilitation and the neural mechanisms of upper limb control and recovery. For the first study, 12 chronic stroke patients completed 8 weeks of at-home rehabilitation using a novel exoskeleton wearable robotic hand device that assisted with the opening of the hand-this enabled performance of therapeutic functional exercises. I examined the neural response to recovery using the neuroimaging technique electroencephalography. The study identified patients with the greatest operational hand improvements had the largest increase in interhemispheric sensorimotor communication. Additionally, neural biomarkers that could predict a patient's response to robotic therapy were identified. I performed biomechanic analysis using 3d motion capture and clinical evaluations without the device pre, post, and 3 months after completion of the study, which showed the novel device restored hand function. The second study saw the development of a new wearable robotic hand device that assists users with opening and closing motions. Additionally, an integrated Android app was developed, which could be used with the automated machine. The app has therapeutic video games and exercises to complement robotic therapy. The study gives a detailed evaluation of the mechanical and control system of the automated device and the responses of persons with the stroke that used the device. To better understand the neural process of upper limb recovery, the final study explored the neural pathways involved in grip force modulation and how robotics that offers upper limb gravity compensation alters the corticospinal path and neural activation. The studies show home-based robotic devices that can induce improvements in hand function after stroke and are well received by persons with stroke. Electroencephalography can be used to track the brain's plasticity during rehabilitation, identify biomarkers that predict response to therapy, and determine the influence of gravity compensation robotic devices on the corticospinal pathway. These findings may be of relevance for optimizing the design of rehabilitation robotics and neurorehabilitation programs.

Download or read book Development of a Robotic Device for the Physical Training of Human Upper Extremity written by Jorge Adrian Ramos and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thesis focuses on the development of a robotic device to be used in parallel with observational learning techniques for facilitating the recovery of the upper limb in post-stroke patients. It has been shown in the existing observational learning literature that observational practice for the execution of goal-directed single arm movements can engage the mirror neuron system and motor areas involved in learning motor actions. On the other hand, robotic-based therapy protocols have proven successful in which participants are able to learn the required perception-action skill. However, robotics have not been overly successful in the generalization of learning to other tasks and this is an essential aspect on improving performance on Activities of Daily Life (ADL). Observational learning of motor skills has been shown to produce transfer across limbs and generalization across muscle groups in the same limb, as well as transfer to perceptual tasks. Therefore, our long-term hypothesis is that a combination of interactive robotics and action observation techniques might offer a greater benefit regarding transfer to ADLs in comparison to pure robotic training. The results from this research broaden the theoretical understanding of observational learning and drive the future development of rehabilitation protocols using the combination of robotic and observational learning techniques. We hypothesize that if the application of these techniques, for non-stroke individuals, yield benefits for the learning of motor/skill actions, then such paradigm will serve as a foundation in the future development of methods for facilitating the recovery of upper limb function after stroke. The electronic version of this dissertation is accessible from http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/149455

Download or read book Augmenting Human Manipulation Abilities with Supernumerary Robotic Limbs written by Irfan Hussain and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-07-17 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a timely report on an emerging topic in the field of wearable assistive technology: the design and development of robotic extra fingers. After a concise review of the state of the art and a description of earlier prototypes, it discusses the authors’ efforts to address issues such as portability and wearability of the devices, including strategies to reduce fatigue and to integrate the motion of the extra fingers with that of the human hand. The book also explores optimized control algorithms and the design of wearable sensorimotor interfaces, and presents a set of tests carried out on healthy subjects and chronic stroke patients. Merging concepts from robotics, biomechanics, human factors and control theory and offering an overview of supernumerary robotic fingers, including the challenges, this book will inspire researchers involved in the development of wearable robotic devices and interfaces based on the principles of wearability, safety, ergonomics and user comfort.

Download or read book Affordable Portable and User Centered Systems for Stroke Subjects written by Mara Montoya and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The objective of this thesis is to discuss the use of rehabilitation robotics in non-specialized settings, identify technical, social, and economic bottlenecks, make predictions about technological trends developing from 2012 to 2025, and present findings and investment opportunities for private corporations, stakeholders, and governments in order to assist them in making funding decisions. Epidemiological and demographical changes like aging are leading to a growing service-robot market (rehabilitation devices are part of this domain), which will continue to grow over the next twenty years. The production of rehabilitation devices will increase with the overall market sector. Clinical trials have proven that robotics systems can be used effectively for upper-limb rehabilitation. Supporting the growth of the rehabilitation robotics industry (especially those rehabilitation robots designed for use outside of rehabilitation clinics) could be beneficial to post-stroke subjects in terms of access, intensity, and cost efficiency. The findings of this thesis show that many of the existing rehabilitation devices which help stroke victims regain upper-limb motion are ineffective in nonspecialized settings (like the patient's home) and furthermore, many promising robots have yet to be commercialized. The findings also reveal a gap between the five important stakeholder groups (patients, partners or relatives, paid carers, therapists, and health and social care budget holders) and their needs, such as trade-offs between therapists, systems, and patients. Current rehabilitation devices which are widely accepted for clinical use like the ARMin (Armeo Power of Hocoma) amongst others, are discussed in this paper. Observations and suggestions for a more user-centered design are made for currently available devices, which often fail to provide a 100% ergonomic solution. The research shows that there is a need for user-driven research, outstandi.

Download or read book Using Robotic Hand Technology for the Rehabilitation of Recovering Stroke Patients with Loss of Hand Power written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Nearly 700,000 people suffered from stroke last year and two thirds of them survived but were left with any number of disabilities, one such disability is upper extremity hemiplegia. If the hand and arm doesn't have therapy immediately after stroke, it will lose it power and muscle control, resulting in a claw like appearance and loss of function. Activities of the patient daily living will be significantly effected. Current therapy on the affected limb in the hospital is expensive and difficult to manage due to the limited amount of resources compared to the number of patients. We introduce a pneumatic actuated wearable hand and forearm device in this thesis. It is designed according to the hand and arm kinematics. It can help the patients keep power on each finger and help maintain the coordination of different fingers to achieve daily living movements. It consists of forearm brace, rehabilitation glove and artificial muscles. The custom made artificial muscles also known as McKibben Artificial Muscles are used in antagonistic pairs to control the fingers flexion and extension. The rehabilitation device is small, lightweight, home-based, and has large force capabilities. It is also affordable to the patients due to the specially designed low-cost artificial muscles. The rehabilitation device was controlled by solenoid valves in conjunction with a Mitsubishi M32/83C 16-bit micro controller. Experiments on the pneumatic elbow brace have shown that it is capable of moving each finger from full extension to flexion, to perform actions like pinching and allows the coordinated movement of two fingers.

Download or read book Development of an Upper Limb Robotic Device for Stroke Rehabilitation written by Elaine Chen Lu and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Model based Control of Upper Extremity Human robot Rehabilitation Systems written by Borna Ghannadi and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stroke rehabilitation technologies have focused on reducing treatment cost while improving effectiveness. Rehabilitation robots are generally developed for home and clinical usage to: 1) deliver repetitive and stimulating practice to post-stroke patients, 2) minimize therapist interventions, and 3) increase the number of patients per therapist, thereby decreasing the associated cost. The control of rehabilitation robots is often limited to black- or gray-box approaches; thus, safety issues regarding the human-robot interaction are not easily considered. Furthermore, despite numerous studies of control strategies for rehabilitation, there are very few rehabilitation robots in which the tasks are implemented using optimal control theory. Optimal controllers using physics-based models have the potential to overcome these issues. This thesis presents advanced impedance- and model-based controllers for an end-effector-based upper extremity stroke rehabilitation robot. The final goal is to implement a biomechanically-plausible real-time nonlinear model predictive control for the studied rehabilitation system. The real-time term indicates that the controller computations finish within the sampling frequency time. This control structure, along with advanced impedance-based controllers, can be applied to any human-environment interactions. This makes them promising tools for different types of assistive devices, exoskeletons, active prostheses and orthoses, and exercise equipment. In this thesis, a high-fidelity biomechatronic model of the human-robot interaction is developed. The rehabilitation robot is a 2 degree-of-freedom parallelogram linkage with joint friction and backlash, and nonlinear dynamics. The mechatronic model of the robot with relatively accurate identified dynamic parameters is used in the human-robot interaction plant. Different musculoskeletal upper extremity, biomechanic, models are used to model human body motions while interacting with the rehabilitation robot model. Human-robot interaction models are recruited for model-in-loop simulations, thereby tuning the developed controllers in a structured resolution. The interaction models are optimized for real-time simulations. Thus, they are also used within the model-based control structures to provide biofeedback during a rehabilitation therapy. In robotic rehabilitation, because of physical interaction of the patient with a mechanical device, safety is a fundamental element in the design of a controller. Thus, impedance-based assistance is commonly used for robotic rehabilitation. One of our objectives is to achieve a reliable and real-time implementable controller. In our definition, a reliable controller is capable of handling variable exercises and admittance interactions. The controller should reduce therapist intervention and improve the quality of the rehabilitation. Hence, we develop advanced impedance-based assistance controllers for the rehabilitation robot. Overall, two types of impedance-based (i.e., hybrid force-impedance and optimal impedance) controllers are developed and tuned using model-in-loop simulations. Their performances are assessed using simulations and/or experiments. Furthermore, their drawbacks are discussed and possible methods for their improvements are proposed. In contrast to black/gray-box controllers, a physics-based model can leverage the inherent dynamics of the system and facilitate implementation of special control techniques, which can optimize a specific performance criterion while meeting stringent system constraints. Thus, we present model-based controllers for the upper extremity rehabilitation robot using our developed musculoskeletal models. Two types of model-based controllers (i.e., nonlinear model predictive control using external 3-dimensional musculoskeletal model or internal 2-dimensional musculoskeletal model) are proposed. Their performances are evaluated in simulations and/or experiments. The biomechanically-plausible nonlinear model predictive control using internal 2-dimensional musculoskeletal model predicts muscular activities of the human subject and provides optimal assistance in real-time experiments, thereby conforming to our final goal for this project.

Download or read book Robot assisted Therapy for Upper Limb Rehabilitation in Individuals with Stroke written by Nahid Norouzi Gheidari and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In order to determine the effectiveness of robot-assisted therapy (RT) in upper limb (UL) rehabilitation of stroke patients, we first systematically reviewed and analyzed the literature. We found that when the duration/intensity of conventional therapy (CT) is matched with that of the RT, no difference exists between the intensive CT and RT groups in terms of motor recovery, activities of daily living, strength, and motor control. However, depending on the stage of recovery, extra sessions of RT in addition to regular CT are more beneficial than regular CT alone in motor recovery of the hemiparetic shoulder and elbow of patients with stroke; the gains are similar to those that have been observed in intensive CT. It has been shown that stroke patients with mild-to-moderate UL motor impairment benefit from training with a virtual reality rehabilitation system. However, during robot-assisted movements, it remains to be determined whether movements made in a virtual environment are similar to those made in a physical environment. Thus, we examined the role of training environment, whether virtual or physical, on robot-assisted reaching movements in chronic stroke and healthy individuals, within a single session. Fifteen subjects participated in this study divided into three groups: 5 chronic stroke individuals able to perform a reaching task with no need for the robot assistance, 5 chronic stroke individuals who needed the robot assistance to complete the reaching task, and 5 healthy individuals. The task was to reach for six target buttons in two identical physical and virtual environments. The outcomes consisted of kinematic measures and a custom questionnaire to assess how participants perceived and experienced the reaching task in both environments. We found no differences between the two environments in terms of the outcome measures in any of the groups. We concluded that the choice of environment, whether physical or virtual, is not a key factor in designing a robot-assisted reaching protocol for stroke survivors. Finally, we conducted a proof-of-concept study to identify clinical benefits and potential adverse effects of a novel, custom-developed RT protocol, named "Assist-As-Asked", aiming at improving arm function of chronic stroke subjects with moderate-to-severe UL motor impairment and to investigate whether practicing in a physical or virtual environment would make any difference in the outcomes of interest. Four chronic stroke subjects participated in 10 half-hour sessions to practice reaching six targets in both virtual and physical environments. The robotic arm provided gravity support, and with the "Assist-As-Asked" paradigm, helped subjects to complete movements when they requested it. Kinematics of the reaching movements and the subjects' perception about the reaching practice in both environments were the primary outcome measures of interest. Change in scores of FMA-UE was the secondary outcome measure. Following the RT sessions, all the subjects noticeably improved their reaching performance, which was accompanied by 3-5 points improvement in FMA-UE score. There were no differences between the two environments in terms of kinematic measures even though subjects had different opinions about environment preference. We concluded that moderate-to-severe chronic stroke survivors may benefit from RT using the "Assist-As-Asked" paradigm. In designing an RT platform for moderate-to-severe chronic stroke survivors, the choice of environment, either physical or virtual, does not necessarily influence the outcome of therapy sessions." --

Download or read book Iterative Learning Control for Electrical Stimulation and Stroke Rehabilitation written by Chris T. Freeman and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-06-25 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Iterative learning control (ILC) has its origins in the control of processes that perform a task repetitively with a view to improving accuracy from trial to trial by using information from previous executions of the task. This brief shows how a classic application of this technique – trajectory following in robots – can be extended to neurological rehabilitation after stroke. Regaining upper limb movement is an important step in a return to independence after stroke, but the prognosis for such recovery has remained poor. Rehabilitation robotics provides the opportunity for repetitive task-oriented movement practice reflecting the importance of such intense practice demonstrated by conventional therapeutic research and motor learning theory. Until now this technique has not allowed feedback from one practice repetition to influence the next, also implicated as an important factor in therapy. The authors demonstrate how ILC can be used to adjust external functional electrical stimulation of patients’ muscles while they are repeatedly performing a task in response to the known effects of stimulation in previous repetitions. As the motor nerves and muscles of the arm reaquire the ability to convert an intention to move into a motion of accurate trajectory, force and rapidity, initially intense external stimulation can now be scaled back progressively until the fullest possible independence of movement is achieved.

Download or read book Quantification and Analysis of Hand Grasp Dynamics and Arm Reaching Kinematics Following Hemiparesis Using a Novel Assistive Robotics Approach written by Nam-Hun Kim and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 77 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conventional upper extremity rehabilitation methods provide limited choices for training regimes with poor recovery outlook in regaining motor ability for persons with stroke, compared much wider and elaborative lower limb training options. Moreover, the existing upper limb rehabilitation paradigms often focus only on bulk motions with maximal force generation, neglecting on a more fine motor control over the whole spectrum of various force levels. Considering the fact that the focus on the upper extremity should be based on the finer control than lower extremity, an imbalance exists in the current rehabilitation regime. To balance this shortcoming and to achieve better overall results in rehabilitation training regime, a more refined and well-designed training system is required to ensure more practical and effective outcome with finer motor control as well as to quantitatively address the theoretical aspects of motor control. To address these issues in terms of developing a better rehabilitation platform as well as to deliver more quantifiable metrics, this study investigated application and development of a novel upper limb rehabilitation training system for the restoration of daily fine motor function for hemiparetic persons using assistive robotic approaches on rehabilitation instrumentation to effectively quantify human kinetic and dynamic motor functions at the elbow, forearm, and hand. Conventional Fitts' speed vs. accuracy trade-off (SAT) test was adapted for this research for both kinematic and dynamic aspects of human motor control. First, kinematic speed vs. accuracy trade-off (KSAT) test was performed at the elbow flexion and extension level, then dynamic speed vs. accuracy trade-off (DSAT) test was performed at the palmar force level, both with visual feedback. Specifically, four hypotheses will be tested in this research: (1) Stroke groups' log-linearity trend from KSAT test will follow Fitts' law with differing slopes from normal groups' performance. (2) Second hypothesis will test normal groups' log-linearity from DSAT test to see whether the dynamic aspects of Fitts' paradigm will correlate to conventional kinematic Fitts' type behavior. (3) Third hypothesis will test on the reproducibility of the direct hand grip force from extrinsic force signals at the forearm to see the functionality of the force myography (FMG) which detects extrinsic force signals at the end-effector sites. (4) Last hypothesis will test the stroke group's improvements in terms of important functional metrics produced by the devices to show the efficacy of the system. The overall system is called HARI (Hand and Arm Rehabilitation Interface) with accompanying subcomponents; MAST (Mechanical Arm Supporter and Tracker) for the base platform and lower arm movement detection with the embedded goniometer at the elbow, FMG (Force Myography) cuff sleeve for forearm musculature detection, and the Gripper for direct hand grip force detection. Instrumental development for HARI as a whole upper-limb rehabilitation system was successful, that all the individual sub-devices were able to gather a reliable and repeatable, high quality physiological data with good signalto-noise (SNR) as well as excellent patient comfortness, to the level of imminent marketability for hospital, laboratory, or home settings, as an efficient and innovative rehabilitation tool. Keywords - stroke, hemiparesis, paralysis, upper limb rehabilitation, kinematic, dynamic, Fitts' Law, fine-motor control.

Download or read book Torque Controlled Exoskeletons for Take home Upper Limb Rehabilitation written by Rafael Casas and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stroke is the leading cause for long term disability. There are approximately 800,000 new stroke cases every year in the US. Stroke survivors often face impairment in the upper extremity with reaching and grasping movements. Because the upper extremity is needed for activities of daily living (ADL) this becomes the focus of rehabilitation. A very high level of motor control is required before they can effectively use their upper limb in ADL. Hand motor control is usually the most limited and the probability of regaining functional use of their hand is low. Movement is impaired by hypertonia (increased passive resistance to movement), inability to activate extensors, and abnormal co-contraction of flexors. Highly repetitive arm and hand task practice has been found to be most effective for individuals with mild impairment. Practice is impossible if the patient is unable to complete the task. Exoskeletons can help patients with task practice as they apply forces that enable completion of movements that would otherwise be impossible. With exoskeletal support, the user will experience less fatigue with movements as less effort is required. In addition to the support offered by exoskeletons, home-based robotic therapy further enables repetitive task practice as it offers stroke survivors the ability to wear exoskeletons at home and integrate use of the upper limb into ADL. In addition to hand impairment, many stroke patients deal with an inability to extend their elbow when their shoulder is elevated against gravity. Proximal arm muscles and hand muscles are abnormally coupled, such that arm posture, activation level of proximal muscles, and lifting the arm against gravity can increase impairment in hand function. Many robotic treatments try to address this by providing the arm with partial support against gravity to facilitate the practice of reaching within a larger workspace. Thus, gravity compensation for the arm is predicted to improve functional ability in the entire limb. In order to enable gravity compensation, the CUA lab developed SpringWear, a wearable exoskeleton that allows stroke survivors to perform ADL with the impaired limb through reduced effort and improved kinematics. The shoulder mechanism balances the arm against gravity using a zero-rest length spring and an assistance profile that closely matches the gravity loading of the upper extremity. Assistance can be customized by adjusting the stiffness of the springs. SpringWear was designed for the home environment, enabling highly variable and meaningful task practice. The device provides assistance to forearm supination, elbow extension, and gravity compensation for the shoulder. SpringWear weighs 1.2 kg with a light-weight carbon fiber back splint as the base of the device and rubber bands as springs for assistance. While the rehab robotics field has made progress in improving hand and limb rehabilitation, gaps still exist in the wearability, usability, accessibility, and kinematics of exoskeletal devices. The rehabilitation robotics lab at Catholic University of America (CUA) previously developed the HandSOME, a passive, single degree of freedom (DOF), spring operated exoskeleton that assists patients in opening their affected hand. The second iteration of the design, HandSOME II, while still being passive and driven by rubber bands, provides more DOF and allows users to perform more complicated hand gestures. By building on previous research and development in the CUA lab, this doctoral research proposal consists of three projects with the goal of advancing the gaps in the rehab robotics field. 1. A one-day clinical study examined how effective the HandSOME II device was in reaching and grasping tasks and how it improved the range of motion with stroke users. 2. A longitudinal take-home study evaluated the effectiveness of home training for stroke subjects with the HandSOME II. The research explored gains though robotic therapy and results were quantified. 3. SpringWear was redesigned to focus on shoulder gravity compensation in order to improve its usability. Two passive joints were retained to allow free shoulder movement and assistance to shoulder elevation in any plane. Development will be followed by testing with stroke patients.