Pub Date : 2018-08-01DOI: 10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487740
Fanny Recher, O. Baños, C. Nikamp, L. Schaake, C. Baten, J. Buurke
Stroke affects the mobility, hence the quality of life of people victim of this cerebrovascular disease. Part of research has been focusing on the development of exoskeletons bringing support to the user's joints to improve their gait and to help regaining independence in daily life. One example is Xosoft, a soft modular exoskeleton currently being developed in the framework of the European project of the same name. On top of its assistive properties, the soft exoskeleton will provide therapeutic feedback via the analysis of kinematic data stemming from inertial sensors mounted on the exoskeleton. Prior to these analyses however, the activities performed by the user must be known in order to have sufficient behavioral context to interpret the data. Four activity recognition chains, based on machine learning algorithm, were implemented to automatically identify the nature of the activities performed by the user. To be consistent with the application they are being used for (i.e. wearable exoskeleton), focus was made on reducing energy consumption by configuration minimization and bringing robustness to these algorithms. In this study, movement sensor data was collected from eleven stroke survivors while performing daily-life activities. From this data, we evaluated the influence of sensor reduction and position on the performances of the four algorithms. Moreover, we evaluated their resistance to sensor failures. Results show that in all four activity recognition chains, and for each patient, reduction of sensors is possible until a certain limit beyond which the position on the body has to be carefully chosen in order to maintain the same performance results. In particular, the study shows the benefits of avoiding lower legs and foot locations as well as the sensors positioned on the affected side of the stroke patient. It also shows that robustness can be brought to the activity recognition chain when the data stemming from the different sensors are fused at the very end of the classification process.
{"title":"Optimizing Activity Recognition in Stroke Survivors for Wearable Exoskeletons","authors":"Fanny Recher, O. Baños, C. Nikamp, L. Schaake, C. Baten, J. Buurke","doi":"10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487740","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487740","url":null,"abstract":"Stroke affects the mobility, hence the quality of life of people victim of this cerebrovascular disease. Part of research has been focusing on the development of exoskeletons bringing support to the user's joints to improve their gait and to help regaining independence in daily life. One example is Xosoft, a soft modular exoskeleton currently being developed in the framework of the European project of the same name. On top of its assistive properties, the soft exoskeleton will provide therapeutic feedback via the analysis of kinematic data stemming from inertial sensors mounted on the exoskeleton. Prior to these analyses however, the activities performed by the user must be known in order to have sufficient behavioral context to interpret the data. Four activity recognition chains, based on machine learning algorithm, were implemented to automatically identify the nature of the activities performed by the user. To be consistent with the application they are being used for (i.e. wearable exoskeleton), focus was made on reducing energy consumption by configuration minimization and bringing robustness to these algorithms. In this study, movement sensor data was collected from eleven stroke survivors while performing daily-life activities. From this data, we evaluated the influence of sensor reduction and position on the performances of the four algorithms. Moreover, we evaluated their resistance to sensor failures. Results show that in all four activity recognition chains, and for each patient, reduction of sensors is possible until a certain limit beyond which the position on the body has to be carefully chosen in order to maintain the same performance results. In particular, the study shows the benefits of avoiding lower legs and foot locations as well as the sensors positioned on the affected side of the stroke patient. It also shows that robustness can be brought to the activity recognition chain when the data stemming from the different sensors are fused at the very end of the classification process.","PeriodicalId":382522,"journal":{"name":"2018 7th IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (Biorob)","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122088723","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-08-01DOI: 10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8488094
Francesco Lanotte, Lorenzo Grazi, Baojun Chen, N. Vitiello, S. Crea
Low-back wearable robots are emerging tools to provide support to operators during handling of goods and repetitive operations. In this paper, we present and validate a novel control strategy for an active pelvis orthosis, which operates intuitively and effectively to assist workers during lifting operations. The proposed control strategy has a hierarchical architecture: the first layer (the intention-detection module) aims to detect online the onset of the lifting movement; the second layer (the assistive strategy) computes the reference torque profile to assist the movement, after the movement onset is detected; the third layer (the low-level control layer) aims at setting the current to drive the actuators. The control strategy relies on the angle measurements acquired by the encoders integrated in the robotic device and does not need additional sensors to detect the event. The system was tested on a pool of five healthy subjects, who were requested to perform repetitive lifting movements: first, the subject was requested to bend the trunk, grasp the box, lift it up and place it on a table; second, the subject was requested to grasp the object from the table, lower it down, place it on the floor and get up without the load. The tasks were executed with the exoskeleton controlled in transparent and assistive modes. Results show that the assistive action allows to perform the lifting movement faster. Significant reductions of the activity of the Lumbar Erector Spinae muscles were observed in the assistive mode compared to the transparent mode: a 16% reduction was observed when extending the trunk while holding the weight and a 33% reduction when extending the trunk without holding the load.
{"title":"A Low-Back Exoskeleton can Reduce the Erector Spinae Muscles Activity During Freestyle Symmetrical Load Lifting Tasks","authors":"Francesco Lanotte, Lorenzo Grazi, Baojun Chen, N. Vitiello, S. Crea","doi":"10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8488094","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8488094","url":null,"abstract":"Low-back wearable robots are emerging tools to provide support to operators during handling of goods and repetitive operations. In this paper, we present and validate a novel control strategy for an active pelvis orthosis, which operates intuitively and effectively to assist workers during lifting operations. The proposed control strategy has a hierarchical architecture: the first layer (the intention-detection module) aims to detect online the onset of the lifting movement; the second layer (the assistive strategy) computes the reference torque profile to assist the movement, after the movement onset is detected; the third layer (the low-level control layer) aims at setting the current to drive the actuators. The control strategy relies on the angle measurements acquired by the encoders integrated in the robotic device and does not need additional sensors to detect the event. The system was tested on a pool of five healthy subjects, who were requested to perform repetitive lifting movements: first, the subject was requested to bend the trunk, grasp the box, lift it up and place it on a table; second, the subject was requested to grasp the object from the table, lower it down, place it on the floor and get up without the load. The tasks were executed with the exoskeleton controlled in transparent and assistive modes. Results show that the assistive action allows to perform the lifting movement faster. Significant reductions of the activity of the Lumbar Erector Spinae muscles were observed in the assistive mode compared to the transparent mode: a 16% reduction was observed when extending the trunk while holding the weight and a 33% reduction when extending the trunk without holding the load.","PeriodicalId":382522,"journal":{"name":"2018 7th IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (Biorob)","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123520443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-08-01DOI: 10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487789
Kyota Ashigaki, Akihiro Iwasaki, D. Hagiwara, Kai Negishi, Kotaro Matsumoto, Yasuyuki Yamada, H. Habu, Taro Nakamura
In recent years, because the development of space technology has been increasing for the purpose of improving the social infrastructure, the expansion of space transportation systems based on low-cost and high-frequency rockets is important. Solid propellants used in solid-fuel rockets have properties of the compactness, inexpensiveness, and easy-handling. However, solid propellants are highly viscous slurries and highly explosive. As there is no device capable of continuously and safely transporting solid propellant, the process of manufacturing solid propellant is a batch process. We focused on the movement of human intestines that knead and transport with a small force as part of the development process. In this report, we design a mechanism for the mixing process by using a peristaltic mixing transporting device for efficiency and by automating the equipment. Specifically, we conduct two experiments with samples using an adjusted fluid ratio: a comparison experiment on fluidity and a pressure response experiment. We investigate the possibility of automatic control and efficiency by using the factors of pressure and flow rate.
{"title":"Considering Mixing Process of Rocket Solid Propellant Using Mixing Transport Device Simulating Peristaltic Movement of Intestinal Tract","authors":"Kyota Ashigaki, Akihiro Iwasaki, D. Hagiwara, Kai Negishi, Kotaro Matsumoto, Yasuyuki Yamada, H. Habu, Taro Nakamura","doi":"10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487789","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487789","url":null,"abstract":"In recent years, because the development of space technology has been increasing for the purpose of improving the social infrastructure, the expansion of space transportation systems based on low-cost and high-frequency rockets is important. Solid propellants used in solid-fuel rockets have properties of the compactness, inexpensiveness, and easy-handling. However, solid propellants are highly viscous slurries and highly explosive. As there is no device capable of continuously and safely transporting solid propellant, the process of manufacturing solid propellant is a batch process. We focused on the movement of human intestines that knead and transport with a small force as part of the development process. In this report, we design a mechanism for the mixing process by using a peristaltic mixing transporting device for efficiency and by automating the equipment. Specifically, we conduct two experiments with samples using an adjusted fluid ratio: a comparison experiment on fluidity and a pressure response experiment. We investigate the possibility of automatic control and efficiency by using the factors of pressure and flow rate.","PeriodicalId":382522,"journal":{"name":"2018 7th IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (Biorob)","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123831678","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-08-01DOI: 10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487949
M. Landgraf, I. S. Yoo, J. Sessner, Maximilian Mooser, Dominik Kaufmann, David Mattejat, S. Reitelshöfer, J. Franke
This paper presents the further development of a Dielectric Elastomer Sensor (DES) based gesture recognition system by sensor data fusion of two complementary sensor systems. The combination of two independent sensor systems with different physical principles enables a reliable recognition of hand and arm movements, which can be used to distinguish the origin of the movement, which means whether it is initiated actively by the nervous system or passively by external forces. The voluntary movements of the hand with the corresponding activity of the forearm muscles are registered with a noninvasive electromyography sensor system of the Myo gesture control armband. The steady-state positions of the passively positioned arm are detected with flexible DES stretching over the arm joints. In this paper, the solution approach as well as the experimental setup for a wearable gesture recognition system based on sensor data fusion of the sensors is presented. Promising results show the capability of combining the advantages of each sensor by fusion of the two different sensor data. This system can be used in various applications such as rehabilitation monitoring or intuitive control of robot systems.
{"title":"Gesture Recognition with Sensor Data Fusion of Two Complementary Sensing Methods*","authors":"M. Landgraf, I. S. Yoo, J. Sessner, Maximilian Mooser, Dominik Kaufmann, David Mattejat, S. Reitelshöfer, J. Franke","doi":"10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487949","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487949","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents the further development of a Dielectric Elastomer Sensor (DES) based gesture recognition system by sensor data fusion of two complementary sensor systems. The combination of two independent sensor systems with different physical principles enables a reliable recognition of hand and arm movements, which can be used to distinguish the origin of the movement, which means whether it is initiated actively by the nervous system or passively by external forces. The voluntary movements of the hand with the corresponding activity of the forearm muscles are registered with a noninvasive electromyography sensor system of the Myo gesture control armband. The steady-state positions of the passively positioned arm are detected with flexible DES stretching over the arm joints. In this paper, the solution approach as well as the experimental setup for a wearable gesture recognition system based on sensor data fusion of the sensors is presented. Promising results show the capability of combining the advantages of each sensor by fusion of the two different sensor data. This system can be used in various applications such as rehabilitation monitoring or intuitive control of robot systems.","PeriodicalId":382522,"journal":{"name":"2018 7th IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (Biorob)","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131695695","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-08-01DOI: 10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487790
Xianta Jiang, L. Tory, Mahta Khoshnam, Kelvin H. T. Chu, C. Menon
Gait analysis has been considered in various scenarios to provide information about the ambulatory physical activity. In this regard, studying gait phases can provide valuable information about the quality of gait. Force myography (FMG) techniques have been successfully employed to detect gait events using pattern recognition methods. This paper explores how the accuracy of detecting gait phases is correlated with the parameters of gait and FMG signal. To this end, FMG data were collected from 11 volunteers walking on a treadmill with a custom-designed FMG ankle band. The collected FMG data were classified into four gait phases using Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) algorithm. The correlation between the error in classification and the parameters of gait and FMG signal was then investigated. The results show that in comparison with other studied parameters, variations in stride length have the most impact on the accuracy of gait phase classification with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.80. Such an effect is more pronounced when signal power-related features, such as root mean square (RMS), are used in the classification algorithm. This study provides insight into the factors affecting the accuracy of FMG-based techniques for gait analysis and is a preliminary step towards developing high performance FMG-based wearable ambulatory activity monitoring systems.
{"title":"Exploration of Gait Parameters Affecting the Accuracy of Force Myography-Based Gait Phase Detection*","authors":"Xianta Jiang, L. Tory, Mahta Khoshnam, Kelvin H. T. Chu, C. Menon","doi":"10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487790","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487790","url":null,"abstract":"Gait analysis has been considered in various scenarios to provide information about the ambulatory physical activity. In this regard, studying gait phases can provide valuable information about the quality of gait. Force myography (FMG) techniques have been successfully employed to detect gait events using pattern recognition methods. This paper explores how the accuracy of detecting gait phases is correlated with the parameters of gait and FMG signal. To this end, FMG data were collected from 11 volunteers walking on a treadmill with a custom-designed FMG ankle band. The collected FMG data were classified into four gait phases using Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) algorithm. The correlation between the error in classification and the parameters of gait and FMG signal was then investigated. The results show that in comparison with other studied parameters, variations in stride length have the most impact on the accuracy of gait phase classification with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.80. Such an effect is more pronounced when signal power-related features, such as root mean square (RMS), are used in the classification algorithm. This study provides insight into the factors affecting the accuracy of FMG-based techniques for gait analysis and is a preliminary step towards developing high performance FMG-based wearable ambulatory activity monitoring systems.","PeriodicalId":382522,"journal":{"name":"2018 7th IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (Biorob)","volume":"102 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123132780","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-08-01DOI: 10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8488084
I. Khalil, M. Hafez, A. Klingner, S. Scheggi, Barbara Adel, S. Misra
In this work, we investigate the near surface effects on the flagellar propulsion of externally actuated soft robotic sperms. A group of $pmb{250}-mu text{m}$ -long robotic sperms are fabricated using electrospinning, and the influence of a nearby wall on their flagellar propulsion is modeled and characterized inside a fluidic chip with channels of varying width. Our experimental results show that the swimming speed of the robotic sperm decreases by a factor of 2 when its distance to a nearby surface is decreased by 50%, at frequency and precision angle of 5 Hz and 15°, respectively. We also show that the reduction in swimming speed can be mitigated by adapting the beating frequency and the precision angle of the tail and head of the robotic sperm during flagellar propulsion. We also demonstrate point-to-point closed-loop control along a reference trajectory inside a channel of varying width and achieve maximum steady-state error of $pmb{5.6}mu text{m}$ t,
{"title":"Near Surface Effects on the Flagellar Propulsion of Soft Robotic Sperms","authors":"I. Khalil, M. Hafez, A. Klingner, S. Scheggi, Barbara Adel, S. Misra","doi":"10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8488084","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8488084","url":null,"abstract":"In this work, we investigate the near surface effects on the flagellar propulsion of externally actuated soft robotic sperms. A group of $pmb{250}-mu text{m}$ -long robotic sperms are fabricated using electrospinning, and the influence of a nearby wall on their flagellar propulsion is modeled and characterized inside a fluidic chip with channels of varying width. Our experimental results show that the swimming speed of the robotic sperm decreases by a factor of 2 when its distance to a nearby surface is decreased by 50%, at frequency and precision angle of 5 Hz and 15°, respectively. We also show that the reduction in swimming speed can be mitigated by adapting the beating frequency and the precision angle of the tail and head of the robotic sperm during flagellar propulsion. We also demonstrate point-to-point closed-loop control along a reference trajectory inside a channel of varying width and achieve maximum steady-state error of $pmb{5.6}mu text{m}$ t,","PeriodicalId":382522,"journal":{"name":"2018 7th IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (Biorob)","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129897967","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-08-01DOI: 10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8488079
M. Klöckner, S. Leonhardt, Peter Meisterjahn, Stefan Theuerkorn, B. Kuhlenkötter, Michael Krampe
In this paper we describe the development of an automated therapy device for the use in neurological rehabilitation. The movement patterns of the therapy device belong to a manual therapy method which is based on hippotherapy. This manual therapy method can be used for patients with high movement restrictions because the patient can exercise in a lying position. Those parts of the development of the automated therapy device which we describe in this paper include the movement analysis of the manual therapy method, the mechanic dimensioning, the modeling and the path planning. Furthermore, we illustrate the implementation of our approach into a demonstrator and partially present our validation. The paper serves to demonstrate the clear advantages of developing and using automated assistive therapy devices in neurological rehabilitation.
{"title":"Automated Assistive Therapy Device for Patients with Neurological Diseases","authors":"M. Klöckner, S. Leonhardt, Peter Meisterjahn, Stefan Theuerkorn, B. Kuhlenkötter, Michael Krampe","doi":"10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8488079","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8488079","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper we describe the development of an automated therapy device for the use in neurological rehabilitation. The movement patterns of the therapy device belong to a manual therapy method which is based on hippotherapy. This manual therapy method can be used for patients with high movement restrictions because the patient can exercise in a lying position. Those parts of the development of the automated therapy device which we describe in this paper include the movement analysis of the manual therapy method, the mechanic dimensioning, the modeling and the path planning. Furthermore, we illustrate the implementation of our approach into a demonstrator and partially present our validation. The paper serves to demonstrate the clear advantages of developing and using automated assistive therapy devices in neurological rehabilitation.","PeriodicalId":382522,"journal":{"name":"2018 7th IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (Biorob)","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130319283","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-08-01DOI: 10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487618
D. Martelli, Jiyeon Kang, S. Agrawal
Gait disorders and subsequent falls are major causes of chronic disability. Most falls occur during walking when an individual fails to recover from a loss of balance. We have developed an innovative cable-driven robot that delivers unpredictable waist-pull perturbations while walking on a treadmill. In previous experiments, we showed that a training session with repeated waist-pulls induces acute motor adaptations in gait and balance recovery reactions. To date, it is unknown if the effects can be transferred to different types of external balance perturbations. This study aims to investigate if the exposure to repeated waist-pulls can improve the recovery reactions to slips. Fourteen healthy young adults were assigned to either an Experimental (EG) or a Control Group (CG). The EG was trained with multidirectional waist-pull perturbations of various intensities. The CG walked for a comparable amount of time on the treadmill with cables on, but without experiencing any waist-pull. Before and after the training, all participants were exposed to three slip-like perturbations by suddenly accelerating one belt of the treadmill in the forward direction. The Margin of Stability (MoS) was evaluated while reacting to the perturbations. At post-training, the EG showed increased stability in reaction to the waist-pull and slip-like perturbations. In contrast, the reaction to slip-like disturbances of the CG remained unchanged. A single session of gait training comprised of repeated waist-pulls showed immediate transfer to split-belt treadmill slips. The findings of this pilot study are encouraging for developing new fall prevention therapies.
{"title":"A Perturbation-based Gait Training with Multidirectional Waist-Pulls Generalizes to Split-Belt Treadmill Slips","authors":"D. Martelli, Jiyeon Kang, S. Agrawal","doi":"10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487618","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487618","url":null,"abstract":"Gait disorders and subsequent falls are major causes of chronic disability. Most falls occur during walking when an individual fails to recover from a loss of balance. We have developed an innovative cable-driven robot that delivers unpredictable waist-pull perturbations while walking on a treadmill. In previous experiments, we showed that a training session with repeated waist-pulls induces acute motor adaptations in gait and balance recovery reactions. To date, it is unknown if the effects can be transferred to different types of external balance perturbations. This study aims to investigate if the exposure to repeated waist-pulls can improve the recovery reactions to slips. Fourteen healthy young adults were assigned to either an Experimental (EG) or a Control Group (CG). The EG was trained with multidirectional waist-pull perturbations of various intensities. The CG walked for a comparable amount of time on the treadmill with cables on, but without experiencing any waist-pull. Before and after the training, all participants were exposed to three slip-like perturbations by suddenly accelerating one belt of the treadmill in the forward direction. The Margin of Stability (MoS) was evaluated while reacting to the perturbations. At post-training, the EG showed increased stability in reaction to the waist-pull and slip-like perturbations. In contrast, the reaction to slip-like disturbances of the CG remained unchanged. A single session of gait training comprised of repeated waist-pulls showed immediate transfer to split-belt treadmill slips. The findings of this pilot study are encouraging for developing new fall prevention therapies.","PeriodicalId":382522,"journal":{"name":"2018 7th IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (Biorob)","volume":"116 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128891815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-08-01DOI: 10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487875
J. Lobo-Prat, Gerard Moreso, Yinchu Dong, Christopher Lew, Nariman Sharifrazi, S. Radom-Aizik, D. Reinkensmeyer
The sedentary lifestyle of powered wheelchair users has a deleterious effect on their health. If they could exercise while driving their chair, like many manual wheelchair users do, they could potentially improve their health through integrated daily exercise. This paper presents the development of MOVit, a novel, arm exercise-enabling, wheelchair control interface, and the results of three preliminary tests with unimpaired subjects. MOVit consists of two custom-made, instrumented mobile arm supports that replace the armrests of a normal powered wheelchair. Instead of using a joystick to drive the wheelchair, the user moves the arm supports with their arms using a cyclical motion, while the software simulates a “virtual lever drive” chair. MOVit was first tested in a stationary setting with five unimpaired individuals (two expert users and three naïve users) to determine if they could achieve increasing levels of exercise by increasing movement amplitude and frequency. Secondly, driving performance using MOVit was evaluated with the same subjects on a long, straight track. Third, maneuverability with MOVit was evaluated for the expert users. In the stationary setting heart rate and oxygen consumption significantly increased as the level of exercise intensity increased. Driving performance for the long, straight track was comparable to the performance achieved using a standard joystick for the two expert users but was worse for the three novice users due to poor clutching inefficiency. The expert users achieved a level of maneuverability with MOVit comparable to that with a joystick. In conclusion, MOVit can modulate exercise intensity during powered wheelchair driving with a maneuverability comparable to that achieved with a standard joystick.
{"title":"Design and Preliminary Testing of MOVit: a Novel Exercise-Enabling Control Interface for Powered Wheelchair Users","authors":"J. Lobo-Prat, Gerard Moreso, Yinchu Dong, Christopher Lew, Nariman Sharifrazi, S. Radom-Aizik, D. Reinkensmeyer","doi":"10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487875","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487875","url":null,"abstract":"The sedentary lifestyle of powered wheelchair users has a deleterious effect on their health. If they could exercise while driving their chair, like many manual wheelchair users do, they could potentially improve their health through integrated daily exercise. This paper presents the development of MOVit, a novel, arm exercise-enabling, wheelchair control interface, and the results of three preliminary tests with unimpaired subjects. MOVit consists of two custom-made, instrumented mobile arm supports that replace the armrests of a normal powered wheelchair. Instead of using a joystick to drive the wheelchair, the user moves the arm supports with their arms using a cyclical motion, while the software simulates a “virtual lever drive” chair. MOVit was first tested in a stationary setting with five unimpaired individuals (two expert users and three naïve users) to determine if they could achieve increasing levels of exercise by increasing movement amplitude and frequency. Secondly, driving performance using MOVit was evaluated with the same subjects on a long, straight track. Third, maneuverability with MOVit was evaluated for the expert users. In the stationary setting heart rate and oxygen consumption significantly increased as the level of exercise intensity increased. Driving performance for the long, straight track was comparable to the performance achieved using a standard joystick for the two expert users but was worse for the three novice users due to poor clutching inefficiency. The expert users achieved a level of maneuverability with MOVit comparable to that with a joystick. In conclusion, MOVit can modulate exercise intensity during powered wheelchair driving with a maneuverability comparable to that achieved with a standard joystick.","PeriodicalId":382522,"journal":{"name":"2018 7th IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (Biorob)","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134213865","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-08-01DOI: 10.1109/BIOROB.2018.8487883
Kees van Teeffelen, D. Dresscher, W. V. Dijk, S. Stramigioli
Humans have multiple ways to adapt their arm dynamics to the task they have to perform. One way of doing this is through co-contraction of antagonist muscles. In telemanipulation this ability is easily lost due to time delays, quantization effects, bandwidth or hardware limitations. In this work a new concept for telemanipulation is presented. The end-point stiffness of a (simulated) telerobot is controlled via a variable impedance controller. The end effector stiffness scales with an estimate of the co-contraction around the elbow of the teleoperator. The telemanipulation concept was evaluated with ten subjects that performed two telemanipulation tasks in six different conditions. Three impedance levels: low, high, and variable, and two delay settings. The first task was on positioning accuracy, the second task on impact minimization. We have shown that low and variable impedance performed significantly better on the force task than high impedance. We have also shown that high and variable impedance performed significantly better on the position task than low impedance. This shows that the human ability to control arm stiffness can effectively be transferred to a telemanipulated robot.
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