Development and evaluation of a haptic framework supporting telerehabilitation robotics and group interaction

Telerehabilitation robotics has grown remarkably in the past few years. It can provide intensive training to people with special needs remotely while facilitating therapists to observe the whole process. Telerehabilitation robotics is a promising solution supporting routine care which can help to transform face-to-face and one-on-one treatment sessions that require not only intensive human resource but are also restricted to some specialised care centres to treatments that are technology-based (less human involvement) and easy to access remotely from anywhere. However, there are some limitations such as network latency, jitter, and delay of the internet that can affect negatively user experience and quality of the treatment session. Moreover, the lack of social interaction since all treatments are performed over the internet can reduce motivation of the patients. As a result, these limitations are making it very difficult to deliver an efficient recovery plan. This thesis developed and evaluated a new framework designed to facilitate telerehabilitation robotics. The framework integrates multiple cutting-edge technologies to generate playful activities that involve group interaction with binaural audio, visual, and haptic feedback with robot interaction in a variety of environments. The research questions asked were: 1) Can activity mediated by technology motivate and influence the behaviour of users, so that they engage in the activity and sustain a good level of motivation? 2) Will working as a group enhance users’ motivation and interaction? 3) Can we transfer real life activity involving group interaction to virtual domain and deliver it reliably via the internet? There were three goals in this work: first was to compare people’s behaviours and motivations while doing the task in a group and on their own; second was to determine whether group interaction in virtual and reala environments was different from each other in terms of performance, engagement and strategy to complete the task; finally was to test out the effectiveness of the framework based on the benchmarks generated from socially assistive robotics literature. Three studies have been conducted to achieve the first goal, two with healthy participants and one with seven autistic children. The first study observed how people react in a challenging group task while the other two studies compared group and individual interactions. The results obtained from these studies showed that the group interactions were more enjoyable than individual interactions and most likely had more positive effects in terms of user behaviours. This suggests that the group interaction approach has the potential to motivate individuals to make more movements and be more active and could be applied in the future for more serious therapy. Another study has been conducted to measure group interaction’s performance in virtual and real environments and pointed out which aspect influences users’ strategy for dealing with the task. The results from this study helped to form a better understanding to predict a user’s behaviour in a collaborative task. A simulation has been run to compare the results generated from the predictor and the real data. It has shown that, with an appropriate training method, the predictor can perform very well. This thesis has demonstrated the feasibility of group interaction via the internet using robotic technology which could be beneficial for people who require social interaction (e.g. stroke patients and autistic children) in their treatments without regular visits to the clinical centres

Master of Science

thesisFor those who have suffered stroke or spinal cord injury, rehabilitation is often the answer for improving gait function. Rehabilitative exercises, which often focus on the legs and deemphasize the role of the upper limbs, are done to help stimulate muscles and exploit neuroplasticity for the diminished functions. However, it has been shown that upper limb muscle activity can induce lower limb muscle activity. It has also been shown that proper arm swing is necessary during gait for balance. This thesis presents the design concept and fabricated prototype of a device that swings the arms during gait rehabilitation. The device is low-powered, lightweight, wearable, and capable of assisting the user's arm swing in the sagittal plane and has unhindered kinematics in the remaining unactuated degrees of freedom. The design comprises three key subassemblies: a backpack frame, an underactuated arm-swing mechanism, and a power train to transfer and amplify motor torques to the arm-swing mechanism. Tests are performed to validate the shoulder-angle prediction equations based on the noncollocated motor-angle sensor measurements, to validate the device's ability to provide adequate torque to generate arm-swing in a passive user, and to investigate whether or not the user's active involvement can be observed by examining motor torque or shoulder angles. The results show that the device does provide sufficient torque to move the arms with a factor of safety, but that the model-based shoulder-angle estimates obtained from the motor measurements have nonnegligible error with the current prototype. It is recommended that a Proportional-Derivative (PD) controller with high PD gains be used with the device because of its low root mean square (RMS) tracking error, shoulder-angle amplitude creation, and ability to diagnose user-assistance level (i.e., is the user passive or actively assisting arm swing) online by observing shoulder-angle amplitudes and peak motor torques

My Dog is in Teletherapy with Me : The Impact of a Pet Dog on Their Owner\u27s Teletherapy Session

The connection between humans and animals has led to practices such as animal-assisted therapy, equine therapy, service animals, and pet ownership. Strong bonds and attachments can form between pet owners and their pets. It is no wonder that owning a pet is commonplace in the United States. Many pet owners identify their pet as a member of their family. In addition to companionship, research has indicated that pet ownership can have health benefits, reduce stress, increase empathy, and facilitate openness. In a therapeutic setting, the presence of a pet may comfort its owner simply by being near them. The ease of including a pet in a therapy session has improved with technology and teletherapy sessions. Recently, psychotherapy delivery has changed for clients and therapists to include a more accepted use of teletherapy sessions. The increase in teletherapy use may become commonplace, but some people are uncomfortable with online therapy. Finding a way to help clients reduce their stress and increase their openness in session may be accomplished by a trusted companion accompanying them in their session. While the companion could be human, it was the owner\u27s dog in this research. This single case experimental designed study examines a dog owner\u27s teletherapy experience with and without their dog in session with them