How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program

Rehabilitation Engineering

Population ageing has major consequences and implications in all areas of our daily life as well as other important aspects, such as economic growth, savings, investment and consumption, labour markets, pensions, property and care from one generation to another. Additionally, health and related care, family composition and life-style, housing and migration are also affected. Given the rapid increase in the aging of the population and the further increase that is expected in the coming years, an important problem that has to be faced is the corresponding increase in chronic illness, disabilities, and loss of functional independence endemic to the elderly (WHO 2008). For this reason, novel methods of rehabilitation and care management are urgently needed. This book covers many rehabilitation support systems and robots developed for upper limbs, lower limbs as well as visually impaired condition. Other than upper limbs, the lower limb research works are also discussed like motorized foot rest for electric powered wheelchair and standing assistance device

Haptic interface based on tactile sensors for assistive devices

Tesis leída el 14 de febrero de 2018.Los países desarrollados deben hacer frente al creciente envejecimiento de su población. Un proceso de envejecimiento adecuado requiere capacidad funcional en las actividades del día a día. Así, las tecnologías de asistencia deben lidiar con uno de los principales problemas asociados con la edad: el deterioro de la movilidad. Los bastones y los andadores son prescritos para personas con movilidad reducida, pero aún con capacidad de andar. Sin embargo, hay un considerable número de personas en la tercera edad que necesitan otro tipo de ayuda. En este sentido, las sillas de ruedas eléctricas suponen un medio para el aumento de la participación y de la actividad de sus usuarios. Normalmente, estas sillas se conducen mediante un joystick alojado al final de uno de los reposabrazos. No obstante, este dispositivo no es adecuado para todo tipo de usuarios. Algunos de ellos lo encuentran difícil de usar y, para otros, su manejo no es posible y necesitan de la asistencia de otra persona (aquellos que padecen ciertas enfermedades del sistema nervioso, lesiones en la médula espinal, discapacidad mental, etc.). De esta manera, hay casos en que se requiere la ayuda de un cuidador que desplace la silla. Empujar una silla de ruedas de forma habitual produce distintos tipos de lesiones, por lo que es interesante que los asistentes o cuidadores también se beneficien de las ventajas de las sillas de ruedas eléctricas. En este caso, la solución más común consiste en otro joystick situado en la parte trasera de la silla. Como se ha apuntado anteriormente, este no es un dispositivo cómodo e intuitivo para muchos usuarios. Con respecto a la investigación, con frecuencia los dispositivos de asistencia propuestos basan su interfaz con el asistente en sensores de fuerza. Estos componentes son caros y suponen por tanto una barrera de cara a que el dispositivo llegue al mercado

Biomechatronics: Harmonizing Mechatronic Systems with Human Beings

This eBook provides a comprehensive treatise on modern biomechatronic systems centred around human applications. A particular emphasis is given to exoskeleton designs for assistance and training with advanced interfaces in human-machine interaction. Some of these designs are validated with experimental results which the reader will find very informative as building-blocks for designing such systems. This eBook will be ideally suited to those researching in biomechatronic area with bio-feedback applications or those who are involved in high-end research on manmachine interfaces. This may also serve as a textbook for biomechatronic design at post-graduate level

Sustainable Technology and Elderly Life

The coming years will see an exponential increase in the proportion of elderly people in our society. This accelerated growth brings with it major challenges in relation to the sustainability of the system. There are different aspects where these changes will have a special incidence: health systems and their monitoring; the development of a framework in which the elderly can develop their daily lives satisfactorily; and in the design of intelligent cities adapted to the future sociodemographic profile. The discussion of the challenges faced, together with the current technological evolution, can show possible ways of meeting the challenges. There are different aspects where these changes will have a special incidence: health systems and their monitoring; the development of a framework in which the elderly can develop their daily lives satisfactorily; and in the design of intelligent cities adapted to the future sociodemographic profile. This special issue discusses various ways in which sustainable technologies can be applied to improve the lives of the elderly. Six articles on the subject are featured in this volume. From a systematic review of the literature to the development of gamification and health improvement projects. The articles present suggestive proposals for the improvement of the lives of the elderly. The volume is a resource of interest for the scientific community, since it shows different research gaps in the current state of the art. But it is also a document that can help social policy makers and people working in this domain to planning successful projects

Proceedings of the 10th international conference on disability, virtual reality and associated technologies (ICDVRAT 2014)

The proceedings of the conferenc

Applications of EMG in Clinical and Sports Medicine

This second of two volumes on EMG (Electromyography) covers a wide range of clinical applications, as a complement to the methods discussed in volume 1. Topics range from gait and vibration analysis, through posture and falls prevention, to biofeedback in the treatment of neurologic swallowing impairment. The volume includes sections on back care, sports and performance medicine, gynecology/urology and orofacial function. Authors describe the procedures for their experimental studies with detailed and clear illustrations and references to the literature. The limitations of SEMG measures and methods for careful analysis are discussed. This broad compilation of articles discussing the use of EMG in both clinical and research applications demonstrates the utility of the method as a tool in a wide variety of disciplines and clinical fields