Desarrollo de una ayuda técnica para alumnos del colegio San Rafael (4) : sistema de identificación de niños con notificación por mensaje de voz

Mediante el presente proyecto vamos a implementar un sistema de identificación de niños para que, cuando se dispongan a entran en una instalación, se les notifique a través de un mensaje de voz personalizado con sus nombres a dónde se disponen a entrar. Este procedimiento está destinado a los niños con discapacidad usuarios del Colegio de Educación Especial Hospital San Rafael, y tiene como objetivo interactuar con ellos a través de mensajes auditivos. Para la identificación de los niños, se ha optado por asignar a cada usuario un pequeño mando a distancia provisto de un solo botón. Cada mando tendrá un código único que se envía a través de una señal óptica infrarroja al pulsar el botón. La señal transmitida estará modulada en frecuencia, con una onda portadora de 38 kHz y una onda moduladora que será una señal binaria codificada. El código enviado consta de una trama de doce bits, de los cuales seis son para datos y los restantes seis para un código de seguridad. Usaremos los bits de datos para diferenciar a los niños y con el código de seguridad evitaremos la activación del circuito en casos no deseados. El receptor ubicado junto a la puerta de la instalación a la que el niño quiere entrar, decodificará la señal infrarroja. Tendremos un receptor por cada sala: de juegos, fisioterapia, rehabilitación, etc. Si el código recibido coincide con el asignado a alguno de los niños, reproduce un mensaje de voz personalizado con el nombre del niño y el nombre de la sala a la que va a ingresar. Si el código no coincide con el de ninguno de los niños, el sistema se mantendrá pasivo. La interacción entre el sistema y los niños, la conseguimos cuando se presiona el botón y se intenta dirigir el mando hacia el receptor. Ésta acción se parece a intentar acertar un dardo en una diana. Potenciando la relación causa-efecto, la destreza mecánica para pulsar el botón y la concentración para apuntar con efectividad, intentamos estimular el desarrollo de las capacidades físicas y mentales de los niños, contribuyendo a su recuperación. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Through the present document, we are going to develop a children identification system which, when they are entering any room of the center, sends them a voice message with their names and the name of the room. This procedure is oriented to Hospital San Rafael Special Education School’s disabled children. The objective is interacting with them through audio messages. To identify the children, we decided to assign each user a small remote control with a single button. The remote control will have a unique code. When the children push the button, the code is sent through an optical infrared signal. The signal transmitted, will be modulated at a frequency with a carrier at 38 kHz and a modulator signal which will be a coded binary wave. The sent code is composed by both six address bits and six data bits. We will use the data bits to recognize the children and with the address bits we avoid to activate the system in undesired cases. The receptor placed by the side of the room’s door which the child wants to enter, will decode the infrared modulated signal. There will be one receptor by each room, for example: playroom, physiotherapy room, rehabilitation room, etc. If the received code is the same that we assigned to some child, the system plays a personalized voice message with the child’s name and the room’s name where he/she is entering. If the code does not coincide with the code assigned to any child, the system will stay passive. We get the interaction between the children and the system when the child pushes the button and try to direct the remote control towards the receptor. This action is the same as hitting a dart on the mark. Improving the physical skills for pointing, the concentration and the cause and effect events, we try to develop the children’s psychomotor capacities, helping them to improve.Ingeniería Técnica en Electrónic

The automated box and blocks test an autonomous assessment method of gross manual dexterity in stroke rehabilitation

Traditional motor assessment is carried out by clinicians using standard clinical tests in order to have objectivity in the evaluation, but this manual procedure is liable to the observer subjectivity. In this article, an automatic assessment system based on the Box and Blocks Test (BBT) of manual dexterity is presented. Also, the automatic test administration and the motor performance of the user is addressed. Through cameras RGB-D the execution of the test and the patient's movements are monitored. Based on colour segmentation, the cubes displaced by the user are detected and the traditional scoring is automatically calculated. Furthermore, a pilot trial in a hospital environment was conducted, to compare the automatic system and its e ectiveness with respect to the traditional one. The results support the use of automatic assessment methods of motor functionality, which in combination with robotic rehabilitation systems, could address an autonomous and objective rehabilitation process.The research leading to these results has received funding from the ROBOHEALTH-A project (DPI2013-47944-C4-1-R) funded by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and from the RoboCity2030-III-CM project (S2013/MIT-2748), funded by Programas de Actividades I+D en la Comunidad de Madrid and cofunded by Structural Funds of the EU

Towards an affordable assistive device for personal autonomy recovery in tasks required of manual dexterity

This paper reviews the results of a challenging engineering project that arose with the goal of implementing an electromechanical, automatic, portable, and inexpensive device. The device should be able to assist people who lack of dexterity in their hands to use small tools and everyday utensils, such as scissors or tweezers. In this paper, the hardware development and software functionality are described. The original specifications were developed to implement an affordable functional prototype able to serve as a low-cost assistive technology. Several commonly used electronic devices were integrated to create an innovative application. A simple mechanical system based on gears and a worm screw is used to convert the stepper motor rotation to a linear movement on the device tip. A tool-oriented control to increase the device usability was designed through two simultaneous communication channels: touch-screen and smartphone app. Pilot trials were conducted at healthcare facilities to evaluate the technical feasibility, the obtained functionality, as well as the device acceptance by target users. Based on user experience design, the app functionality was enhanced and subsequently tested. Finally, a review and reformulation of the specifications of the original design were accomplished. These changes helped to achieve a system with a lower manufacturing cost and better acceptance, while considering the user in the development cycle.This work was supported in part by the RoboCity2030-III-CM Project (Robotica aplicada a la mejora de la calidad de vida de los ciudadanos. Fase III; S2013/MIT-2748), in part by the Programas de Actividades I+D en la Comunidad de Madrid, in part by the Structural Funds of the EU, and in part by the private Fundacion Universia

Review of automated systems for upper limbs functional assessment in neurorehabilitation

Traditionally, the assessment of upper limb (UL) motor function in neurorehabilitation is carried out by clinicians using standard clinical tests for objective evaluation, but which could be influenced by the clinician's subjectivity or expertise. The automation of such traditional outcome measures (tests) is an interesting and emerging field in neurorehabilitation. In this paper, a systematic review of systems focused on automation of traditional tests for assessment of UL motor function used in neurological rehabilitation is presented. A systematic search and review of related articles in the literature were conducted. The chosen works were analyzed according to the automation level, the data acquisition systems, the outcome generation method, and the focus of assessment. Finally, a series of technical requirements, guidelines, and challenges that must be considered when designing and implementing fully-automated systems for upper extremity functional assessment are summarized. This paper advocates the use of automated assessment systems (AAS) to build a rehabilitation framework that is more autonomous and objective.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness via the ROBOHEALTH (DPI2013-47944-C4-1-R) and ROBOESPAS (DPI2017-87562-C2-1-R) Projects, and in part by the RoboCity2030-III-CM project (S2013/MIT-2748) which is funded by the Programas de Actividades I+D Comunidad de Madrid and cofunded by the Structural Funds of the EU

Robotics in health care: Perspectives of robot-aided interventions in clinical practice for rehabilitation of upper limbs

This article belongs to the Special Issue Rehabilitation Robotics: Recent Advancements and New Perspectives about Training and Assessment of Sensorimotor Functions.Robot-aided systems to support the physical rehabilitation of individuals with neurological impairment is one of the fields that has been widely developed in the last few decades. However, the adoption of these systems in clinical practice remains limited. In order to better understanding the causes of this limitation, a systematic review of robot-based systems focused on upper extremity rehabilitation is presented in this paper. A systematic search and review of related articles in the literature were conducted. The chosen works were analyzed according to the type of device, the data analysis capability, the therapy method, the human–robot interaction, the safety strategies, and the focus of treatment. As a conclusion, self-adaptation for personalizing the treatments, safeguarding and enhancing of patient–robot interaction towards training essential factors of movement generation into the same paradigm, or the use of lifelike environments in fully-immersive virtual reality for increasing the assimilation of motor gains could be relevant factors to develop more accepted robot-aided systems in clinical practice.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness via the ROBOESPASproject (DPI2017-87562-C2-1-R) and in part by the RoboCity2030-DIH-CMMadrid Robotics Digital Innovation Hub ("Robótica aplicada a la mejora de la calidad de vida de los ciudadanos, Fase IV"; S2018/NMT-4331), which is funded by the Programas de Actividades I+DComunidad de Madrid and cofunded by the Structural Funds of the EU

Assessment of Manual Dexterity in VR: Towards a Fully Automated Version of the Box and Blocks Test

Proceeding of The 27th Australian National Health Informatics Conference (HIC 2019), 12-14 August 2019, Melbourne, AustraliaIn recent years, the possibility of using serious gaming technology for the automation of clinical procedures for assessment of motor function have captured the interest of the research community. In this paper, a virtual version of the Box and Blocks Test (BBT) for manual dexterity assessment is presented. This game-like system combines the classical BBT mechanics with a play-centric approach to accomplish a fully automated test for assessing hand motor function, making it more accessible and easier to administer. Additionally, some variants of the traditional mechanics are proposed in order to fully exploit the advantages of the chosen technology. This ongoing research aims to provide the clinical practitioners with a customisable, intuitive, and reliable tool for the assessment and rehabilitation of hand motor function.Work funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (ROBOESPAS project DPI2017-87562-C2-1-R and mobility grant EST2019-013090), and by the RoboCity2030-DIH-CM Madrid Robotics Digital Innovation Hub (S2018/NMT-4331).Publicad

Robot-Aided Systems for Improving the Assessment of Upper Limb Spasticity: A Systematic Review

This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors Technology for Medical Robotics.Spasticity is a motor disorder that causes stiffness or tightness of the muscles and can interfere with normal movement, speech, and gait. Traditionally, the spasticity assessment is carried out by clinicians using standardized procedures for objective evaluation. However, these procedures are manually performed and, thereby, they could be influenced by the clinician’s subjectivity or expertise. The automation of such traditional methods for spasticity evaluation is an interesting and emerging field in neurorehabilitation. One of the most promising approaches is the use of robot-aided systems. In this paper, a systematic review of systems focused on the assessment of upper limb (UL) spasticity using robotic technology is presented. A systematic search and review of related articles in the literature were conducted. The chosen works were analyzed according to the morphology of devices, the data acquisition systems, the outcome generation method, and the focus of intervention (assessment and/or training). Finally, a series of guidelines and challenges that must be considered when designing and implementing fully-automated robot-aided systems for the assessment of UL spasticity are summarized

Effects of EMG-controlled video games on the upper limb functionality in patients with multiple sclerosis: a feasibility study and development description

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common inflammatory neurological disease in young adults, with a high prevalence worldwide (2.8 million people). To aid in the MS treatment, using VR tools in cognitive and motor rehabilitation of such disease has been growing progressively in the last years. However, the role of VR as a rehabilitative tool in MS treatment is still under debate. This paper explores the effects of VR training using EMG activation in upper limb functionality. An experimental training protocol using video games controlled using an MYO armband sensor was conducted in a sample of patients with MS. Results support the use of EMG-commanded video games as a rehabilitative tool in patients with MS, obtaining favorable outcomes related to upper limb functionality and satisfaction.The authors would like to thank all the participants who collaborated in this study, as well as the staff of Association ALEM (Leganés, Spain). Also, the authors would like to thank Hugo Alonso Cámara for his collaboration and technical support. The research leading to these results received funding from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness as part of the project "ROBOASSET: Intelligent Robotic Systems for Assessment and Rehabilitation in Upper Limb Therapies" (PID2020-113508RB-I00), funded by AEI/10.13039/501100011033; from the Robocity2030-III-CM Project (S2013/MIT-2748) which is supported in part by Programas de Actividades I+D en la Comunidad de Madrid and in part by Structural Funds of the EU; and also from Spanish research project Discover2Walk "Sistema Robótico para Propiciar la Marcha en Niños Pequeños con Parálisis Cerebral" under Grant PID2019-105110RB-C32/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. This paper was part of the R&D and the authors' project PLEC2021-007819 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR

Feasibility and efficacy of a virtual reality game-based upper extremity motor function rehabilitation therapy in patients with chronic stroke: a pilot study

This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technologies in the Evaluation and Treatment of Patients with Neurological Pathologies.Background: The objective of the present study was to develop a virtual reality protocol based on activities of daily living and conventional rehabilitation, using Leap Motion Controller to improve motor function in upper extremity rehabilitation in stroke patients. At the same time, the purpose was to explore its efficacy in the recovery of upper extremity motor function in chronic stroke survivors, and to determine feasibility, satisfaction and attendance rate; Methods: A prospective pilot experimental clinical trial was conducted. The outcome measures used were the grip strength, the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT), the Block and Box Test (BBT), the Short Form Health Survey-36 Questionnaire, a satisfaction questionnaire and attendance rate; Results: Our results showed statistically significant changes in the variables grip strength, BBT and ARAT as well as high levels of satisfaction and attendance; Conclusions: This virtual reality platform represents an effective tool in aspects of upper extremity functionality rehabilitation in patients with chronic stroke, demonstrating feasibility and high levels of attendance and satisfaction

A pilot study on the design considerations and user impressions of an assistive affordable device

Proceeding of: RoboCity16: Robots for citizens: Open Conference on Future Trends in Robotics, Madrid 26-27 Mayo 2016, pp.: 19-28. https://www.car.upm-csic.es/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Proceedings_RoboCity16_web_version_02.pdfPRESSMATIC is a portable electromechanical device which was designed to assist people whose manual dexterity has been impaired for any reason (ageing, illness, paralysis, etc.). Its goal is restoring the loss of functionali ty of the thumb and forefinger in certain tasks that require pinching movements (e.g. grabbing scissors, tweezers, etc.). In this paper, a study on design considerations and user experience of PRESSMATIC is present ed. For that purpose, pilot trials were conducted at healthcare facilities. Target users evaluated several prototypes of PRESSMATIC and their opinions were registered. Based on this, the original design specifications were reviewed. First, the methodology used in the study is presented. Par ticipants, devices and tasks are described too. Then, trial results are shown and the system requirements will be discussed taking into account user ex perience. Finally, the study conclusions are shown.To Fundación Caser by I+D award, to Fundación Universia by funding this project, and to Robotics Lab Team. The research leading to these results has received funding from the RoboCity2030-III-CM project (Robótica aplicada a la mejora de la calidad de vida de los ciudadanos. Fase III; S2013/MIT-2748), funded by Programas de Actividades I+D en la Communidad de Madrid and cofunded by Structural Funds of the EU.Publicad