Human Health Engineering Volume II

In this Special Issue on “Human Health Engineering Volume II”, we invited submissions exploring recent contributions to the field of human health engineering, i.e., technology for monitoring the physical or mental health status of individuals in a variety of applications. Contributions could focus on sensors, wearable hardware, algorithms, or integrated monitoring systems. We organized the different papers according to their contributions to the main parts of the monitoring and control engineering scheme applied to human health applications, namely papers focusing on measuring/sensing physiological variables, papers highlighting health-monitoring applications, and examples of control and process management applications for human health. In comparison to biomedical engineering, we envision that the field of human health engineering will also cover applications for healthy humans (e.g., sports, sleep, and stress), and thus not only contribute to the development of technology for curing patients or supporting chronically ill people, but also to more general disease prevention and optimization of human well-being

Decoding Information From Neural Signals Recorded Using Intraneural Electrodes: Toward the Development of a Neurocontrolled Hand Prosthesis

The possibility of controlling dexterous hand prostheses by using a direct connection with the nervous system is particularly interesting for the significant improvement of the quality of life of patients, which can derive from this achievement. Among the various approaches, peripheral nerve based intrafascicular electrodes are excellent neural interface candidates, representing an excellent compromise between high selectivity and relatively low invasiveness. Moreover, this approach has undergone preliminary testing in human volunteers and has shown promise. In this paper, we investigate whether the use of intrafascicular electrodes can be used to decode multiple sensory and motor information channels with the aim to develop a finite state algorithm that may be employed to control neuroprostheses and neurocontrolled hand prostheses. The results achieved both in animal and human experiments show that the combination of multiple sites recordings and advanced signal processing techniques (such as wavelet denoising and spike sorting algorithms) can be used to identify both sensory stimuli (in animal models) and motor commands (in a human volunteer). These findings have interesting implications, which should be investigated in future experiments. © 2006 IEEE

Role of Sensation in Altered Phalanx Grip Force in Persons with Stroke

Many individuals experience hand impairment after stroke leading to decreased ability to perform daily living activities. Previous research studies have investigated how stroke survivors\u27 pinch grip control differs from healthy individuals, even though many individuals can only grasp with power grip after stroke. Furthermore, many stroke survivors experience tactile sensory deficit in their paretic limb in addition to motor deficit. It is currently unknown how stroke induced tactile sensory deficit affects power grip force directional control, which is important in terms of preventing object slippage and power grip normal force generation. Additionally it is unknown if power grip could be improved through tactile sensory enhancement. This dissertation investigated how stroke survivors\u27 power grip force control is different from healthy individuals. Also, the effect of stroke induced tactile sensory deficit on power grip force control and the benefits of a sensory enhancement method using remote subsensory vibrotactile noise on power grip phalanx force deviation was assessed. In addition, the effect of noise on the tactile sensation for stroke survivors with tactile sensory deficit and their performance on two dynamic gripping tasks, the Box and Block Test (`BBT\u27, number of blocks moved in 60 seconds) and the Nine Hole Peg Test (`NHPT\u27, time to pick up, place, and remove 9 pegs from 9 holes), were investigated. The theoretical framework of this dissertation is that tactile sensation is critical for grip control and impairment or enhancement of tactile sensation impacts power grip force control post stroke. Results showed that stroke survivors, especially those with tactile sensory deficit, gripped with increased phalanx force deviation compared to healthy individuals, showing reduced directional force control and increasing their chances of dropping objects. Remote subsensory vibrotactile noise improved fingertip and upper palm tactile sensation for stroke survivors with tactile sensory deficit. The noise also improved phalanx force directional control during power grip (reducing phalanx force deviation) for stroke survivors with and without tactile sensory deficit and age-matched healthy controls and improved the BBT score and time to complete the NHPT for stroke survivors with tactile sensory deficit. Overall, stroke survivors, particularly those with tactile sensory deficit, appear to have reduced phalanx force control during power grip, which may biomechanically result from a muscle activation pattern. Remote subsensory vibrotactile noise may have enhanced tactile sensation and hand motor control via stochastic resonance and interneuronal connections and could have potential as a wearable rehabilitation device for stroke survivors. This dissertation contributes to the long term goal of increasing stroke survivors\u27 independence in completing daily living activities

Performance Analysis of Vibrotactile and Slide-and-Squeeze Haptic Feedback Devices for Limbs Postural Adjustment

Recurrent or sustained awkward body postures are among the most frequently cited risk factors to the development of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). To prevent workers from adopting harmful configurations but also to guide them toward more ergonomic ones, wearable haptic devices may be the ideal solution. In this paper, a vibrotactile unit, called ErgoTac, and a slide-and-squeeze unit, called CUFF, were evaluated in a limbs postural correction setting. Their capability of providing single-joint (shoulder or knee) and multi-joint (shoulder and knee at once) guidance was compared in twelve healthy subjects, using quantitative task-related metrics and subjective quantitative evaluation. An integrated environment was also built to ease communication and data sharing between the involved sensor and feedback systems. Results show good acceptability and intuitiveness for both devices. ErgoTac appeared as the suitable feedback device for the shoulder, while the CUFF may be the effective solution for the knee. This comparative study, although preliminary, was propaedeutic to the potential integration of the two devices for effective whole-body postural corrections, with the aim to develop a feedback and assistive apparatus to increase workers' awareness about risky working conditions and therefore to prevent MSDs

MOTOR CONTROL OF THUMB-INDEX SYSTEM IN HEALTHY POPULATION

Thumb and Index fingers are involved in many daily tasks, it is understandable how injuries, musculoskeletal, rheumatologic, and neurological diseases could affect hand function causing severe disability. The evaluation of motor control deficits of the thumb-index system is necessary to identify impairments and to propose specific therapeutic or surgical proposes. Pinch maximal voluntary contraction is the most investigated parameter, it is a valid estimator of general hand function. However, thumb and index are rarely involved at their maximal contraction, usually they are used in precision pinches at low submaximal forces exerted for a short-to-long time. For this reason other parameters must be investigated. In this dissertation, a multiparametric evaluation of thumb-index system was proposed. The battery of tests consisted of the maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) of pinch grip (TP, tip pinch and PP, palmar pinch) and of the opposite movement (E, extension of thumb and index), the endurance (SC, sustained contraction), the accuracy and precision of pinch force in a pinch and release task (DC, dynamic contraction) and the force coordination between hands in a bimanual simultaneous task (BSC, bimanual strength coordination). The tasks were measured with a measurement system consisted of two pinch gauges, connected to a PC, the visual feedback was displayed on a monitor through the graphical user interface of an ad-hoc developed software. To be usable in the clinical context, it is important to check the reliability of the tasks and collecting data in healthy samples permits on the one hand to analyse how values changes as function of anthropometric variables, hand dominance, dexterity, and on the other hand to define the reference values to compare pathological populations. Therefore this dissertation was conducted through test-retest reliability studies and cross-sectional studies to establish normative data of PP, TP, E MVCs, SC, DC and BSC in the Italian population. All the tasks proved reliable and consistent, MVC and SC showed high reliability, DC and BSC reliability was lower but clinically suitable. Strength, analysed through PP, TP, E MVCs, declined in line with the normal process of aging that also entails muscle fibers and the reduction of daily activities in older adults. In relative terms, E-MVC showed the highest strength loss in the over 75y. SC showed similar values in all age groups, variables of DC and BSC showed instead large effect related to age-decline. Women performed better than men only in SC, in MVC, DC and BSC men excelled. A hand dominance effect emerged only in TP and PP MVC. Correlations between tasks were very low to low, suggesting that different constructs were measured by the tasks. This Ph.D. project proposed novel tasks to evaluate pinch motor control which were showed reliable in healthy people and their normative data were obtained, representing a useful aid in the clinical field. The results become a starting point for future studies to highlight impairments of the thumb-index system in different neurological and musculoskeletal disorders and to guide the rehabilitation and the therapeutic intervention

Kinematics and Robot Design IV, KaRD2021

This volume collects the papers published on the special issue “Kinematics and Robot Design IV, KaRD2021” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/robotics/special_issues/KaRD2021), which is the forth edition of the KaRD special-issue series, hosted by the open-access journal “MDPI Robotics”. KaRD series is an open environment where researchers can present their works and discuss all the topics focused on the many aspects that involve kinematics in the design of robotic/automatic systems. Kinematics is so intimately related to the design of robotic/automatic systems that the admitted topics of the KaRD series practically cover all the subjects normally present in well-established international conferences on “mechanisms and robotics”. KaRD2021, after the peer-review process, accepted 12 papers. The accepted papers cover some theoretical and many design/applicative aspects

Optimizing User Integration for Individualized Rehabilitation

User integration with assistive devices or rehabilitation protocols to improve movement function is a key principle to consider for developers to truly optimize performance gains. Better integration may entail customizing operation of devices and training programs according to several user characteristics during execution of functional tasks. These characteristics may be physical dimensions, residual capabilities, restored sensory feedback, cognitive perception, or stereotypical actions

The PRISMA Hand II: A Sensorized Robust Hand for Adaptive Grasp and In-Hand Manipulation

Although substantial progresses have been made in building anthropomorphic robotic hands, lack of mechanical robustness, dexterity and force sensation still restrains wide adoption of robotic prostheses. This paper presents the design and preliminary evaluation of the PRISMA hand II, which is a mechanically robust anthropomorphic hand developed at the PRISMA Lab of University of Naples Federico II. The hand is highly underactuated, as the 19 finger joints are driven by three motors via elastic tendons. Nevertheless, the hand can performs not only adaptive grasps but also in-hand manipulation. The hand uses rolling contact joints, which is compliant in multiple directions. Force sensor are integrated to each fingertip in order to provide force feedback during grasping and manipulation. Preliminary experiments have been performed to evaluate the hand. Results show that the hand can perform various grasps and in-hand manipulation, while the structure can withstand severe disarticulation. This suggests that the proposed design can be a viable solution for robust and dexterous prosthetic hands

Understanding interaction mechanics in touchless target selection

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)We use gestures frequently in daily life—to interact with people, pets, or objects. But interacting with computers using mid-air gestures continues to challenge the design of touchless systems. Traditional approaches to touchless interaction focus on exploring gesture inputs and evaluating user interfaces. I shift the focus from gesture elicitation and interface evaluation to touchless interaction mechanics. I argue for a novel approach to generate design guidelines for touchless systems: to use fundamental interaction principles, instead of a reactive adaptation to the sensing technology. In five sets of experiments, I explore visual and pseudo-haptic feedback, motor intuitiveness, handedness, and perceptual Gestalt effects. Particularly, I study the interaction mechanics in touchless target selection. To that end, I introduce two novel interaction techniques: touchless circular menus that allow command selection using directional strokes and interface topographies that use pseudo-haptic feedback to guide steering–targeting tasks. Results illuminate different facets of touchless interaction mechanics. For example, motor-intuitive touchless interactions explain how our sensorimotor abilities inform touchless interface affordances: we often make a holistic oblique gesture instead of several orthogonal hand gestures while reaching toward a distant display. Following the Gestalt theory of visual perception, we found similarity between user interface (UI) components decreased user accuracy while good continuity made users faster. Other findings include hemispheric asymmetry affecting transfer of training between dominant and nondominant hands and pseudo-haptic feedback improving touchless accuracy. The results of this dissertation contribute design guidelines for future touchless systems. Practical applications of this work include the use of touchless interaction techniques in various domains, such as entertainment, consumer appliances, surgery, patient-centric health settings, smart cities, interactive visualization, and collaboration

HAPTIC AND VISUAL SIMULATION OF BONE DISSECTION

Marco AgusIn bone dissection virtual simulation, force restitution represents the key to realistically mimicking a patient– specific operating environment. The force is rendered using haptic devices controlled by parametrized mathematical models that represent the bone–burr contact. This dissertation presents and discusses a haptic simulation of a bone cutting burr, that it is being developed as a component of a training system for temporal bone surgery. A physically based model was used to describe the burr– bone interaction, including haptic forces evaluation, bone erosion process and resulting debris. The model was experimentally validated and calibrated by employing a custom experimental set–up consisting of a force–controlled robot arm holding a high–speed rotating tool and a contact force measuring apparatus. Psychophysical testing was also carried out to assess individual reaction to the haptic environment. The results suggest that the simulator is capable of rendering the basic material differences required for bone burring tasks. The current implementation, directly operating on a voxel discretization of patientspecific 3D CT and MR imaging data, is efficient enough to provide real–time haptic and visual feedback on a low–end multi–processing PC platform.