Assessment of a hand exoskeleton on proximal and distal training in virtual environments for robot mediated upper extremity rehabilitation

Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the United States with approximately 800,000 cases per year. This cerebral vascular accident results in neurological impairments that reduce limb function and limit the daily independence of the individual. Evidence suggests that therapeutic interventions with repetitive motor training can aid in functional recovery of the paretic limb. Robotic rehabilitation may present an exercise intervention that can improve training and induce motor plasticity in individuals with stroke. An active (motorized) hand exoskeleton that provides support for wrist flexion/extension, abduction/adduction, pronation/supination, and finger pinch is integrated with a pre-existing 3-Degree of Freedom (DOF) haptic robot (Haptic Master, FCS Moog) to determine the efficacy of increased DOF during proximal and distal training in Upper Extremity (UE) rehabilitation. Subjects are randomly assigned into four groups to evaluate the significance of increased DOF during virtual training: Haptic Master control group (HM), Haptic Master with Gripper (HMG), Haptic Master with Wrist (HMW), and Haptic Master with Gripper and Wrist (HMWG). Each subject group performs a Pick and Place Task in a virtual environment where the distal hand exoskeleton is mapped to the virtual representation of the hand. Subjects are instructed to transport as many virtual cubes as possible to a specified target in the allotted time period of 120s. Three cube sizes are assessed to determine efficacy of the assistive end-effector. An additional virtual task, Mailbox Task, is performed to determine the effect of training and the ability to transfer skills between virtual settings in an unfamiliar environment. The effects of viewing mediums are also investigated to determine the effect of immersion on performance using an Oculus Rift as an HMD compared to conventional projection displays. It is hypothesized that individuals with both proximal and complete distal hand control (HMWG) will see increased benefit during the Pick and Place Task than individuals without the complete distal attachment, as assisted daily living tasks are often accomplished with coordinated arm and hand movement. The purpose of this study is to investigate the additive effect of increased degrees of freedom at the hand through task-specific training of the upper arm in a virtual environment, validate the ability to transfer skills obtained in a virtual environment to an untrained task, and determine the effects of viewing mediums on performance. A feasibility study is conducted in individuals with stroke to determine if the modular gripper can assist pinch movements. These investigations represent a comprehensive investigation to assess the potential benefits of assistive devices in a virtual reality setting to retrain lost function and increase efficacy in motor control in populations with motor impairments

Dynamic Organizations: Achieving Marketplace and Organizational Agility with People

Driven by dynamic competitive conditions, an increasing number of firms are experimenting with new, and what they hope will be, more dynamic organizational forms. This development has opened up exciting theoretical and empirical venues for students of leadership, business strategy, organizational theory, and the like. One domain that has yet to catch the wave, however, is strategic human resource management (SHRM). In an effort to catch up, we here draw on the dynamic organization (DO) and human resource strategy (HRS) literatures to delineate both a process for uncovering and the key features of a carefully crafted HRS for DOs. The logic is as follows. DOs compete through marketplace agility. Marketplace agility requires that employees at all levels engage in proactive, adaptive, and generative behaviors, bolstered by a supportive mindset. Under the right conditions, the essential mindset and behaviors, although highly dynamic, are fostered by a HRS centered on a relatively small number of dialectical, yet paradoxically stable, guiding principles and anchored in a supportive organizational infrastructure. This line of reasoning, however, rests on a rather modest empirical base and, thus, is offered less as a definitive statement than as a spur for much needed additional research

Open-source digital technologies for low-cost monitoring of historical constructions

This paper shows new possibilities of using novel, open-source, low-cost platforms for the structural health monitoring of heritage structures. The objective of the study is to present an assessment of increasingly available open-source digital modeling and fabrication technologies in order to identify the suitable counterparts of the typical components of a continuous static monitoring system for a historical construction. The results of the research include a simple case-study, which is presented with low-cost, open-source, calibrated components, as well as an assessment of different alternatives for deploying basic structural health monitoring arrangements. The results of the research show the great potential of these existing technologies that may help to promote a widespread and cost-efficient monitoring of the built cultural heritage. Such scenario may contribute to the onset of commonplace digital records of historical constructions in an open-source, versatile and reliable fashion.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Autonomous Mechanical Assembly on the Space Shuttle: An Overview

The space shuttle will be equipped with a pair of 50 ft. manipulators used to handle payloads and to perform mechanical assembly operations. Although current plans call for these manipulators to be operated by a human teleoperator. The possibility of using results from robotics and machine intelligence to automate this shuttle assembly system was investigated. The major components of an autonomous mechanical assembly system are examined, along with the technology base upon which they depend. The state of the art in advanced automation is also assessed

Technology assessment of advanced automation for space missions

Six general classes of technology requirements derived during the mission definition phase of the study were identified as having maximum importance and urgency, including autonomous world model based information systems, learning and hypothesis formation, natural language and other man-machine communication, space manufacturing, teleoperators and robot systems, and computer science and technology

Institutional innovation: synthesis of programme outcomes

Report of the work of the Projects funded by the JISC Institutional change/innovation Programme 2008-2010. Report produced by the Synthesis and Benefits Realisation Team linked to the Programme