Filtrado Adaptativo de Componentes Involuntarias en Marcha Asistida por Andador para Detección de Intenciones

ResumenEn este trabajo, se presenta un método de filtrado adaptativo para la eliminación de las componentes involuntarias de las fuerzas de interacción entre el usuario y el andador por el apoyo de sus miembros superiores. Este proceso se basa en la atenuación selectiva de componentes relacionadas con las oscilaciones del tronco del sujeto durante la marcha. Para ello, se hace la estimación de la cadencia de marcha en tiempo real procesando las señales de distancia obtenidas por un subsistema ultrasónico mediante el algoritmo Weighted-Frequency Fourier Linear Combiner (WFLC). Este subsistema suministra la distancia entre los pies del usuario y el andador en tiempo real. La cadencia a su vez es usada para el ajuste de un filtro notch adaptativo construido a partir del algoritmo Fourier Linear Combiner (FLC) que realiza el filtrado en tiempo real de las señales obtenidas del subsistema de medición de fuerzas de apoyo de antebrazos. El método propuesto ofrece una cancelación robusta y en tiempo real de cerca del 80% de la amplitud de las componentes indeseadas de frecuencia. La salida del algoritmo de filtrado propuesto permite así evidenciar componentes de fuerzas de bajo nivel pero muy importantes ya que están generadas por acciones intencionales y naturales asociadas a las intenciones de guiado del andador. Estas componentes serán utilizadas en el control de los motores del andador basándose en una arquitectura de control clásico que será desarrollada posteriormente

Assistive mobility devices focusing on smart walkers : classification and review

In an aging society it is extremely important to develop devices, which can support and aid the elderly in their daily life. This demands means and tools that extend independent living and promote improved health. Thus, the goal of this article is to review the state of the art in the robotic technology for mobility assistive devices for people with mobility disabilities. The important role that robotics can play in mobility assistive devices is presented, as well as the identification and survey of mobility assistive devices subsystems with a particular focus on the walkers technology. The advances in the walkers’ field have been enormous and have shown a great potential on helping people with mobility disabilities. Thus it is presented a review of the available literature of walkers and are discussed major advances that have been made and limitations to be overcome

Review and classification of human gait training and rehabilitation devices

The number of people with reduced mobility capabilities increases every year. This reduction arises mainly due to spinal cord injuries; strokes which caused hemiparesis; or due to an advanced age. This decrease in mobility is a factor that influences both their quality of life and their dependence of others in daily life. Thus, it becomes necessary to find means and tools to prevent, compensate, improve or help to restore and increase the mobility of the affected people. The main expectation is that such means help to recover or ameliorate their independence in their daily life. Traditional training employs a treadmill with a support-weight system. This training is based on the principle of repetition of all the physical movements of a gait and has shown to produce good results in terms of rehabilitation of patients. However, this therapy requires two or more therapists in assisting patients during walking, to hold and adjust the patient’s lower limbs to correctly produce the desired gait. Thus, it requires a substantial commitment and effort of the therapists [1], and it is very expensive in terms of human resources. This leads to a boost on the population healthcare and assistive services demand and, thus an increase in the need for care givers. Assistive mobility robotic devices for gait training of disabled patients in treadmills and in the ground are one successful alternative. Other alternatives include devices that allow a broader training of patients, in different ground types, and the repetition of gait movements in uphill, downhill and trip. This paper reviews state of the art training gait devices focusing on passive and active devices. Passive devices rely on the principle of Gravity-Balancing in that they try to reduce or eliminate the effects of gravity during walking. Active devices are usually classified according to three different approaches: (i) treadmillexoskeleton based devices, (ii) robotic manipulators generating different types of gait patterns, and (iii) mobilite devices. In this review, several examples of current devices are presented

Revisão e classificação de dispositivos de treino e reabilitação da marcha humana

O treino de marcha convencional recorre a uma passadeira. Este tipo de treino comporta custos consideráveis, para além de exigir o constante envolvimento e esforço de dois ou três terapeutas. De modo a reduzir este esforço, inúmeros grupos de investigação têm desenvolvido uma série de alternativas a este método através da ajuda de dispositivos robóticos que realizam a assistência de pacientes na passadeira. Para além destes, têm surgido outros dispositivos que permitem um treino mais alargado dos pacientes no sentido em que permitem ao paciente executar a sua marcha no solo, bem como a repetição de movimentos de subida, descida e de tropeçar

A novel human-machine interface for guiding : the NeoASAS Smart Walker

In an aging society it is extremely important to develop devices, which can support and aid the elderly in their daily life. This demands tools that extend independent living and promote improved health. In this work it is proposed a new interface approach integrated into a walker. This interface is based on a joystick and it is intended to extract the user’s movement intentions. The interface is designed to be userfriendly, simple and intuitive, efficient and economic, meeting usability aspects and focused on a commercial implementation, but not being demanding at the user cognitive level. Preliminary sets of experiments were performed which showed the sensibility of the joystick to extract navigation commands from the user. These signals presented a higher frequency component that was attenuated by a Benedict-Bordner g-h filter. The presented methodology offers an effective cancelation of the undesired components from joystick data, allowing the system to extract in real-time voluntary user’s navigation commands. Based on this real-time identification of voluntary user’s commands, an approach to the control architecture of the robotic walker is being developed, in order to obtain stable and safe user assisted locomotion.(undefined

Theory and Phenomenology of Vector Mesons in Medium

Electromagnetic probes promise to be direct messengers of (spectral properties of) hot and dense matter formed in heavy-ion collisions, even at soft momentum transfers essential for characterizing possible phase transitions. We examine how far we have progressed toward this goal by highlighting recent developments, and trying to establish connections between lattice QCD, effective hadronic models and phenomenology of dilepton production.Comment: 8 pages latex incl. 12 ps/eps files; invited plenary talk at Quark Matter 2006 conference, Shanghai (China), Nov. 14-20, 200

Viscosity and the Soft Ridge at RHIC

Correlation studies exhibit a ridge-like feature in rapidity and azimuthal angle, with and without a jet trigger. We ask whether the feature in untriggered correlations can be a consequence of transverse flow and viscous diffusion.Comment: Proc. Quark Matter 2008, Jaipur, Indi

Metodología de estudio del aprendizaje de niños con parálisis cerebral en el uso de un ratón por movimientos de cabeza

This paper presents a methodology designed to evaluate the learning process for people with cerebral palsy (CP) who are asked to control a computer through an inertial interface. The interface allows users to control the mouse pointer and click with head movements. The metric proposed in order to objectively measure the process of learning is the “throughput”. This parameter has been widely used for the evaluation of pointing devices and is now applied for the first time to people with CP. The results obtained show that the metric can be used to quantify how the user is learning and therefore to assess the usability of the inertial device.[EN]Este artículo presenta un estudio piloto que introduce una metodología para valorar el aprendizaje de una persona con parálisis cerebral (PC) en el manejo del computador con una interfaz inercial, que permite el control del cursor y el clic mediante movimientos de cabeza. Se propone el uso de una métrica denominada rendimiento para medir objetivamente el proceso de aprendizaje. La métrica, ampliamente utilizada para la evaluación de dispositivos apuntadores, se aplica por primera vez en usuarios con PC. Los resultados obtenidos muestran cómo la métrica propuesta permite cuantificar el proceso de aprendizaje del usuario con PC, con lo que puede ser empleada para valorar la usabilidad del dispositivo inercial.[ES]Peer reviewe

The effects of graded levels of calorie restriction : IV. Non-linear change in behavioural phenotype of mice in response to short-term calorie restriction

We would like to acknowledge the BSU staff for their invaluable help with caring for the animals. The work was supported by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BBSRC (BB/G009953/1 and BB/J020028/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD