Attention-controlled assistive wrist rehabilitation using a low-cost EEG sensor

It is essential to make sure patients be actively involved in motor training using robot-assisted rehabilitation to achieve better rehabilitation outcomes. This paper introduces an attention-controlled wrist rehabilitation method using a low-cost EEG sensor. Active rehabilitation training is realized using a threshold of the attention level measured by the low-cost EEG sensor as a switch for a flexible wrist exoskeleton assisting wrist flexion/extension and radial/ulnar deviation. We present a prototype implementation of this active training method and provide a preliminary evaluation. The feasibility of the attention-based control was proven with the overall actuation success rate of 95%. The experimental results also proved that the visual guidance was helpful for the users to concentrate on the wrist rehabilitation training: two types of visual guidance, namely, looking at the hand motion shown on a video and looking at the user's own hand had no significant performance difference. A general threshold of a certain group of users can be utilized in the wrist robot control rather than a customized threshold to simplify the procedure

Identificación de herramientas de tic para apoyar la inclusión de personas mayores de edad

El propósito de este documento es presentar una síntesis de aquellas herramientas de TIC que han sido desarrolladas con el fin de apoyar la inclusión de las personas mayores, además que han sido publicadas en la literatura científica en el periodo 2005 -2015, se pretende identificar los tipos de tecnologías que se desarrollan para este grupo de personas, para luego así poder clasificar los resultados obtenidos a partir de la revisión de literatura científica realizada, su objetivo es construir un marco conceptual referente a los Adultos Mayores y las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación, la cual se debe explicar la concepción y la clasificación de cada término, establecer una planificación como ayuda para la revisión sistemática de la literatura, la cual estuvo comprendida por preguntas de investigación y criterios que se consideraron para poder realizar la respectiva selección y clasificación de los documentos se partió de una ecuación de búsqueda realizada para depurar la información, se realizó la búsqueda de los documentos en la base de datos SCOPUS, se escogen los documentos que van a ser sometidos al análisis, esto mediante una evaluación de calidad de los mismos, se analizaron los documentos que han sido seleccionados y se presentó la síntesis de los resultados, por medio de la ejecución de los objetivos descritos anteriormente, se ha logrado identificar dos tipos de desarrollos, los pertenecientes al grupo de aplicaciones y al de electrónica; también, se encontró desarrollos en los que se relacionaban estos dos tipos, además cada uno presenta o tiene un propósito diferente, entre los cuales se han destacado nueve, de los cuales el monitoreo o control de las personas mayores ha sido el propósito o el fin al que más se ha trabajado, con 57 herramientas dirigidas a esta finalidad y que equivale a un 39,8601% de los documentos estudiados

A Biomechanical and Physiological Signal Monitoring System for Four Degrees of Upper Limb Movement

A lack of adherence to prescribed physical therapy regimens in improper healing results in poor outcomes for those affected by musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) of the upper limb. Societal and psychological barriers to proper adherence can be addressed through the system presented in this work consisting of the following components: an ambulatory biosignal acquisition sleeve, an electromyography (EMG) based motion repetition detection algorithm, and the design of a compatible capacitive EMG acquisition module. The biosignal acquisition sleeve was untethered, unobtrusive to motion, contained only modular components, and collected biomechanical and physiological sensor data to form full motion profiles of the following four degrees of freedom: elbow flexion—extension, forearm pronation—supination, wrist flexion—extension, and ulnar--radial deviation. The piloted sleeve simultaneously collected data from four inertial sensors, two electromyography (EMG) sensors and a flex-bend sensor. A visualization application was developed to present the information in a manner meaningful to the user. As well, an EMG based motion repetition detector was developed for use within the system. It was validated using an existing database of 23 subjects with varying musculoskeletal health, achieving a success rate of 95.43%. This algorithm was modified for use with the sleeve, resulting in a 95% success rate. An electrode and analog front end module was proposed, relying on unique material structures and low-noise, precision sensing techniques. The system prototype presented a resource-conscious tool for multi-modality tracking of elbow, forearm, and wrist motion, which could eventually be integrated into upper limb MSD rehabilitation

Development of Digital Control Systems for Wearable Mechatronic Devices: Applications in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation of the Upper Limb

The potential for wearable mechatronic systems to assist with musculoskeletal rehabilitation of the upper limb has grown with the technology. One limiting factor to realizing the benefits of these devices as motion therapy tools is within the development of digital control solutions. Despite many device prototypes and research efforts in the surrounding fields, there are a lack of requirements, details, assessments, and comparisons of control system characteristics, components, and architectures in the literature. Pairing this with the complexity of humans, the devices, and their interactions makes it a difficult task for control system developers to determine the best solution for their desired applications. The objective of this thesis is to develop, evaluate, and compare control system solutions that are capable of tracking motion through the control of wearable mechatronic devices. Due to the immaturity of these devices, the design, implementation, and testing processes for the control systems is not well established. In order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of these processes, control system development and evaluation tools have been proposed. The Wearable Mechatronics-Enabled Control Software framework was developed to enable the implementation and comparison of different control software solutions presented in the literature. This framework reduces the amount of restructuring and modification required to complete these development tasks. An integration testing protocol was developed to isolate different aspects of the control systems during testing. A metric suite is proposed that expands on the existing literature and allows for the measurement of more control characteristics. Together, these tools were used ii ABSTRACT iii to developed, evaluate, and compare control system solutions. Using the developed control systems, a series of experiments were performed that involved tracking elbow motion using wearable mechatronic elbow devices. The accuracy and repeatability of the motion tracking performances, the adaptability of the control models, and the resource utilization of the digital systems were measured during these experiments. Statistical analysis was performed on these metrics to compare between experimental factors. The results of the tracking performances show some of the highest accuracies for elbow motion tracking with these devices. The statistical analysis revealed many factors that significantly impact the tracking performance, such as visual feedback, motion training, constrained motion, motion models, motion inputs, actuation components, and control outputs. Furthermore, the completion of the experiments resulted in three first-time studies, such as the comparison of muscle activation models and the quantification of control system task timing and data storage needs. The successes of these experiments highlight that accurate motion tracking, using biological signals of the user, is possible, but that many more efforts are needed to obtain control solutions that are robust to variations in the motion and characteristics of the user. To guide the future development of these control systems, a national survey was conducted of therapists regarding their patient data collection and analysis methods. From the results of this survey, a series of requirements for software systems, that allow therapists to interact with the control systems of these devices, were collected. Increasing the participation of therapists in the development processes of wearable assistive devices will help to produce better requirements for developers. This will allow the customization of control systems for specific therapies and patient characteristics, which will increase the benefit and adoption rate of these devices within musculoskeletal rehabilitation programs