1,493 research outputs found
Robolink: Modular Robot Arm
The goal of this project is to utilize the igusÂź Robolink arm five degree of freedom modular robot arm, to complete useful tasks for persons with no or limited mobility. These tasks include driving the joystick of a wheelchair, flipping a light switch, and turning the pages of a book. This is done through designing and building a modular interface for mounting the Robolink arm onto an existing wheelchair project and implementing a universal control interface in the software for future expansion of tasks and control methods
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Inclusive adventure by design: The development of opportunities in outdoor sport for disabled people through co-ordinated people centred research and development in design and coaching
This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Structured to help readers from a range of disciplines, the thesis looks at the creation of opportunities for participation in adventure sport, specifically the
development of a postural support for intermediate level performers with spinal
cord injury in sea kayaking. The research has shown that it is possible to increase the performance level of disabled athletes in paddle sport through the development of appropriate adaptive equipment, which in turn promotes inclusion and the broadening of opportunities.
This research project takes place against a backdrop of national events and developments; notably, changes in UK legislation to do with disability access
(DDA 1995), and developments in legislation to do with outdoor safety. The research also takes place against a backdrop of national campaigns, such as the âCampaign for Adventureâ, and an increasing number of drives to make the UKâs population more active. The broad-based multidisciplinary approach is in line with reported priorities in international disability sport research, while encompassing paddlesport specific criteria.
The research takes the approach of design research to develop the product. Initially the reported studies evaluate the design process utilising desk-based research. They then proceed to utilise design methodology in field-based short and longer expedition settings. The design process utilises existing user-centred staged design approaches to explore methods for wider application.
The findings reveal that the development of opportunities in adventure sport with disabled people involves engaging with a social mess. The action of problem definition and resolution can be termed in this paradigm as a wicked problem, being that is does not have one clear solution. The information needing to be exchanged in the problem resolution can be considered as sticky, being that the research process takes place in a specialised arena characterised by sparse resources and with a multidisciplinary team.
The research has informed the creation of twelve tools to support those practitioners involved in this area. Used from the bottom up or top down, they provide a common language between the participant, coach, therapist and researcher to help educate and inspire each person to understand the true nature of the problem, improve the shared understanding within the team, and thereby reducing the stickiness of the information. The effect on the development of new equipment is to improve focus and user participation, so making it easier to work within the social mess.
A new postural support was designed for use by intermediate level sea kayakers with spinal cord injury, the design of which is given in study 9, which is evaluated in study 10.
The study suggests that future work in this area should focus on the coordination
of sport science support, further exploration of the link between design research and social change, explore the validity of the tools across a broader population, and further develop the design so that the new equipment can be of benefit to the broader population
PARbot: Personal Assistive Robot
The aging population of the United States is creating a growing need to provide assistive care for elderly and people with disabilities. As the Baby Boomer generation enters retirement, the ratio of caregivers to those that require assistance is projected to decrease. There are currently no commercially available modular assistive robots that can fill this need. Our project aims to provide an alternative to current assisted living options through the development, construction, and testing of a Personal Assistive Robot (PARbot) that allows individuals with general or age related disabilities to maintain some aspects of their independence, such as the ability to shop
Robotic Platforms for Assistance to People with Disabilities
People with congenital and/or acquired disabilities constitute a great number of dependents today. Robotic platforms to help people with disabilities are being developed with the aim of providing both rehabilitation treatment and assistance to improve their quality of life. A high demand for robotic platforms that provide assistance during rehabilitation is expected because of the health status of the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has resulted in countries facing major challenges to ensure the health and autonomy of their disabled population. Robotic platforms are necessary to ensure assistance and rehabilitation for disabled people in the current global situation. The capacity of robotic platforms in this area must be continuously improved to benefit the healthcare sector in terms of chronic disease prevention, assistance, and autonomy. For this reason, research about humanârobot interaction in these robotic assistance environments must grow and advance because this topic demands sensitive and intelligent robotic platforms that are equipped with complex sensory systems, high handling functionalities, safe control strategies, and intelligent computer vision algorithms. This Special Issue has published eight papers covering recent advances in the field of robotic platforms to assist disabled people in daily or clinical environments. The papers address innovative solutions in this field, including affordable assistive robotics devices, new techniques in computer vision for intelligent and safe humanârobot interaction, and advances in mobile manipulators for assistive tasks
Definition of problems of persons in sheltered care environments
Innovations in health care using aerospace technologies are described. Voice synthesizer and voice recognition technologies were used in developing voice controlled wheel chairs and optacons. Telephone interface modules are also described
Ekonomicky dostupnĂœ aktivnĂ exoskeleton pro dolnĂ konÄetiny pro paraplegiky
After a broad introduction to the medical and biomechanical background and detailed review of orthotic devices, two newly developed lower limbs exoskeletons for paraplegics are presented in this study.
There was found out the main challenges of designing devices for paraplegic walking can be summarized into three groups, stability and comfort, high efficiency or low energy consumption, dimensions and weight. These all attributes have to be moreover considered and maintained during manufacturing of affordable device while setting a reasonable price of the final product.
A new economical device for people with paraplegia which tackles all problems of the three groups is introduced in this work. The main idea of this device is based on HALO mechanism. HALO is a compact passive medial hip joint orthosis with contralateral hip and ankle linkage, which keeps the feet always parallel to the ground and assists swinging the leg. The medial hip joint is equipped with one actuator in the new design and the new active exoskeleton is called @halo.
Due to this update, we can achieve more stable and smoother walking patterns with decreased energy consumption of the users, yet maintain its compact and lightweight features. It was proven by the results from preliminary experiments with able-bodied subjects during which the same device with and without actuator was evaluated. Waddling and excessive vertical elevation of the centre of gravity were decreased by 40% with significantly smaller standard deviations in case of the powered exoskeleton. There was 52% less energy spent by the user wearing @halo which was calculated from the vertical excursion difference. There was measured 38.5% bigger impulse in crutches while using passive orthosis, which produced bigger loads in upper extremities musculature. The inverse dynamics approach was chosen to calculate and investigate the loads applied to the upper extremities. The result of this calculation has proven that all main muscle groups are engaged more aggressively and indicate more energy consumption during passive walking. The new @halo device is the first powered exoskeleton for lower limbs with just one actuated degree of freedom for users with paraplegia.PrvnĂ ÄĂĄst prĂĄce je vÄnovĂĄna obsĂĄhlĂ©mu Ășvodu do zdravotnickĂ© a biomechanickĂ© terminologie a detailnĂmu souhrnnĂ©mu pĆedstavenĂ ortopedickĂœch pomĆŻcek. NĂĄslednÄ jsou pĆedstaveny dva novÄ vyvinutĂ© exoskelety aplikovatelnĂ© na dolnĂ konÄetiny paraplegikĆŻ.
Bylo zjiĆĄtÄno, ĆŸe hlavnĂ ĂșskalĂ konstrukÄnĂho nĂĄvrhu asistenÄnĂch zaĆĂzenĂ pro paraplegiky lze shrnout do tĆĂ hlavnĂch skupin, jako prvnĂ je stabilita a komfort, druhĂĄ je vysokĂĄ ĂșÄinnost a nĂzkĂĄ energetickĂĄ nĂĄroÄnost uĆŸivatele a do tĆetĂ lze zahrnout rozmÄry a hmotnost zaĆĂzenĂ. Toto vĆĄechno je navĂc podmĂnÄno pĆijatelnou vĂœslednou cenou produktu.
NovĂœ ekonomicky dostupnĂœ exoskelet pro paraplegiky, kterĂœ ĆeĆĄĂ problematiku vĆĄech tĆĂ zmĂnÄnĂœch skupin je pĆedstaven v tĂ©to prĂĄci. HlavnĂ myĆĄlenka tohoto zaĆĂzenĂ je postavena na mechanismu HALO ortĂ©zy. HALO je kompaktnĂ pasivnĂ ortĂ©za s mediĂĄlnĂm kyÄelnĂm kloubem umĂstÄnĂœm uprostĆed mezi dolnĂmi konÄetinami. SpeciĂĄlnĂ mediĂĄlnĂ kyÄelnĂ kloub je kontralaterĂĄlnÄ propojen s kotnĂkem soustavou ocelovĂœch lanek coĆŸ zajiĆĄtuje paralelnĂ polohu chodidla se zemĂ v kaĆŸdĂ©m okamĆŸiku chĆŻze a navĂc asistuje zhoupnutĂ konÄetiny. Tento mediĂĄlnĂ kyÄelnĂ kloub je redesignovĂĄn a v novĂ©m provedenĂ je vybaven jednĂm aktuĂĄtorem, novĂ© ĆeĆĄenĂ aktivnĂho exoskeletu dostalo nĂĄzev @halo.
DĂky tomuto vylepĆĄenĂ lze dosĂĄhnout stabilnÄjĆĄĂ a plynulejĆĄĂ chĆŻze s vĂœraznÄ redukovanou energetickou nĂĄroÄnostĂ uĆŸivatele pĆiÄemĆŸ dochĂĄzĂ k zachovĂĄnĂ nĂzkĂ© hmotnosti a kompaktnosti zaĆĂzenĂ. Toto bylo dokĂĄzĂĄno bÄhem pĆedbÄĆŸnĂœch experimentĆŻ se zdravĂœmi subjekty, bÄhem kterĂœch byla testovĂĄna aktivnĂ chĆŻze se zaĆĂzenĂm vybavenĂœm odnĂmatelnou pohonnou jednotkou a pasivnĂ chĆŻze se stejnĂœm zaĆĂzenĂm bez tĂ©to aktivnĂ jednotky. NadmÄrnĂ© naklĂĄnÄnĂ se bÄhem chĆŻze ze strany na stranu a nadmÄrnĂĄ vĂœchylka pohybu tÄĆŸiĆĄtÄ tÄla ve vertikĂĄlnĂm smÄru byly snĂĆŸeny o necelĂœch 40% s velmi vĂœznamnÄ menĆĄĂmi standardnĂmi odchylkami v pĆĂpadÄ chĆŻze s pohonem. Z rozdĂlu vĂœchylky pohybu tÄĆŸiĆĄtÄ tÄla ve vertikĂĄlnĂ poloze bylo vypoÄĂtĂĄno snĂĆŸenĂ energetickĂ© nĂĄroÄnosti uĆŸivatele o 52% pĆi chĆŻzi s aktivnĂ konfiguraci @halo. PĆi pohybu s pasivnĂ ortĂ©zou byl namÄĆen o 38,5% vÄtĆĄĂ reakÄnĂ silovĂœ impuls v berlĂch, coĆŸ znamenĂĄ nĂĄrĆŻst zĂĄtÄĆŸe pro svalovĂœ aparĂĄt hornĂch konÄetin. Pro podrobnĂ© vyĆĄetĆenĂ zĂĄtÄĆŸe ramennĂch kloubĆŻ byl aplikovĂĄn model inverznĂ dynamiky. VĂœsledek tohoto vĂœpoÄtu jednoznaÄnÄ indikuje agresivnÄjĆĄĂ a hlubĆĄĂ zapojenĂ vĆĄech svalovĂœch skupin ramennĂho kloubu a tĂm vyĆĄĆĄĂ spotĆebu energie uĆŸivatelem bÄhem pasivnĂ chĆŻze. NovĂ© asistenÄnĂ zaĆĂzenĂ @halo je prvnĂm exoskeletem svĂ©ho druhu pro paraplegiky s jedinĂœm pohĂĄnÄnĂœm stupnÄm volnosti.354 - Katedra robotikyvyhovÄ
A non-holonomic, highly human-in-the-loop compatible, assistive mobile robotic platform guidance navigation and control strategy
The provision of assistive mobile robotics for empowering and providing independence to the infirm, disabled and elderly in society has been the subject of much research. The issue of providing navigation and control assistance to users, enabling them to drive their powered wheelchairs effectively, can be complex and wide-ranging; some users fatigue quickly and can find that they are unable to operate the controls safely, others may have brain injury re-sulting in periodic hand tremors, quadriplegics may use a straw-like switch in their mouth to provide a digital control signal.
Advances in autonomous robotics have led to the development of smart wheelchair systems which have attempted to address these issues; however the autonomous approach has, ac-cording to research, not been successful; users reporting that they want to be active drivers and not passengers. Recent methodologies have been to use collaborative or shared control which aims to predict or anticipate the need for the system to take over control when some pre-decided threshold has been met, yet these approaches still take away control from the us-er. This removal of human supervision and control by an autonomous system makes the re-sponsibility for accidents seriously problematic.
This thesis introduces a new human-in-the-loop control structure with real-time assistive lev-els. One of these levels offers improved dynamic modelling and three of these levels offer unique and novel real-time solutions for: collision avoidance, localisation and waypoint iden-tification, and assistive trajectory generation. This architecture and these assistive functions always allow the user to remain fully in control of any motion of the powered wheelchair, shown in a series of experiments
Mechatronic Systems
Mechatronics, the synergistic blend of mechanics, electronics, and computer science, has evolved over the past twenty five years, leading to a novel stage of engineering design. By integrating the best design practices with the most advanced technologies, mechatronics aims at realizing high-quality products, guaranteeing at the same time a substantial reduction of time and costs of manufacturing. Mechatronic systems are manifold and range from machine components, motion generators, and power producing machines to more complex devices, such as robotic systems and transportation vehicles. With its twenty chapters, which collect contributions from many researchers worldwide, this book provides an excellent survey of recent work in the field of mechatronics with applications in various fields, like robotics, medical and assistive technology, human-machine interaction, unmanned vehicles, manufacturing, and education. We would like to thank all the authors who have invested a great deal of time to write such interesting chapters, which we are sure will be valuable to the readers. Chapters 1 to 6 deal with applications of mechatronics for the development of robotic systems. Medical and assistive technologies and human-machine interaction systems are the topic of chapters 7 to 13.Chapters 14 and 15 concern mechatronic systems for autonomous vehicles. Chapters 16-19 deal with mechatronics in manufacturing contexts. Chapter 20 concludes the book, describing a method for the installation of mechatronics education in schools
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