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A functional electrical stimulation (FES)-robot system controlled by subjects' motor intention was developed in our previous study. The effectiveness of the FES-robot on wrist training was investigated in this work. Five hemiplegic subjects with chronic stroke were recruited for an FES-robot assisted wrist training with 20 sessions. After the training, motor improvements were found in the wrist and...
Robotic surgical assistants offer the possibility of automating portions of a task that are time consuming and tedious in order to reduce the cognitive workload of a surgeon. This paper proposes using programming by demonstration to build generative models and generate smooth trajectories that capture the underlying structure of the motion data recorded from expert demonstrations. Specifically, motion...
This paper presents the design, implementation and control of a novel robotic system for assistive laser phonomicrosurgeries. The goals here are to improve the precision, the controllability, the safety and the ergonomics of traditional transoral laser laryngeal surgeries. Successful steps achieved by the developed system in those directions are presented here, including the design, control and characterization...
Cannulation of small retinal vessels is often prohibitively difficult for surgeons, since physiological tremor often exceeds the narrow diameter of the vessel (40-120 μm). Using an active handheld micromanipulator, we introduce an image-guided robotic system that reduces tremor and provides smooth, scaled motion during the procedure. The micromanipulator assists the surgeon during the approach, puncture,...
Several students of Bioengineering complain about the excess of theoretical classes and the difficulty to assimilate the subject taught. This article presents a strategy to mix theory and practice when teaching, thus motivating students to engage in their studies.
Biocooperative augmented robots, can enhance rehabilitation therapies by giving the correct assistance at the correct time. Since different patients may benefit from different amounts of assistance or resistance at a given time, predicting when a person enters in an undesired psychophysiological state can provide an intelligent system with important information about when to initiate interaction....
Anticipation of sensory consequences of actions is critical for the predictive control of movement that explains most of our sensory-motor behaviors. Plenty of neuroscientific studies in humans suggest evidence of anticipatory mechanisms based on internal models. Several robotic implementations of predictive behaviors have been inspired on those biological mechanisms in order to achieve adaptive agents...
This paper bispectrum is used to classify human arm movements and control a robotic arm based on upper limb's surface electromyogram signals (sEMG). We use bispectrum based on third-order cumulant to parameterize sEMG signals and classify elbow flexion and extension, forearm pronation and supination, and rest states by an artificial neural network (ANN). Finally, a robotic manipulator is controlled...
Flexible endoscopes are used in ENT surgery for examination tasks in cases wherever rigid endoscopes are unsuitable to reach certain positions in the nasal cavity. Until today they are steered by hand and no robotized system has been put into clinical practice. One qualification a robot manipulator system has to fulfill to be accepted is not to create new disadvantages compared to the conventional...
This paper presents the development of new prismatic actuation approach and its application in human-safe humanoid head design. To reduce actuator output impedance and mitigate unexpected external shock, the prismatic actuation method uses cables to drive a piston with preloaded spring. By leveraging the advantages of parallel manipulator and cable-driven mechanism, the developed neck has a parallel...
Many people of all ages have sustained cervical cord injury in traffic accidents or sport accidents, and consequently suffered physical impairment. Among these individuals dysfunction of the upper limbs is a concern, although recovery from dysfunction is possible through rehabilitation. In this study, we developed an assistive robot for upper limb movement which has high effectiveness in rehabilitation...
This paper is concerned with the estimation of the height and width of freespace based on a Bayesian Recursive (BR) algorithm for an autonomous wheelchair using a stereoscopic camera system for disabled people. A 2D distance map for the purpose of freespace estimation is converted from a 3D point map using geometric projection and computation. The comparison of this 2D map to a 2D map obtained from...
In robot-assisted surgery, it may be important to provide force feedback to the hand of the surgeon. Here we examine how force feedback from each degree of freedom (DOF) on a hand controller affects the motion accuracy of a surgical tool. We studied the motion accuracy of a needle-shaped tool in performing a robot-assisted tracing task. On a virtual simulation of the tool and neuroArm robot, human...
Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) open a new valuable communication channel for people with severe neurological or motor degenerative diseases, such as ALS patients. On the other hand, the ability to teleoperate robots in a remote scenario provides a physical entity embodied in a real environment ready to perceive, explore, and interact. The combination of both functionalities provides a system with...
After a stroke, many survivors have impaired motor function. Robotic rehabilitation techniques have emerged to provide a repetitive, activity-based therapy at potentially lower cost than conventional methods. Many patients exhibit intrinsic resistance to hand extension in the form of spasticity and/or hypertonia. We have developed a therapy program using the Hand Exoskeleton Rehabilitation Robot (HEXORR)...
A novel design of a hand functions task training robotic system was developed for the stroke rehabilitation. It detects the intention of hand opening or hand closing from the stroke person using the electromyography (EMG) signals measured from the hemiplegic side. This training system consists of an embedded controller and a robotic hand module. Each hand robot has 5 individual finger assemblies capable...
This paper presents the evolution of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures as a process of convergence of technologies coming from different fields and involving different disciplines. In particular, it illustrates how modern surgery evolved thanks to fundamental biology knowledge; thus, with the introduction of imaging techniques intra-operatively and with the introduction of robotics, surgical procedures...
Magnetic Resonance Targeting (MRT) uses MRI for gathering tracking data to determine the position of microscale entities with the goal of guiding them towards a specific target in the body accessible through the vascular network. At full capabilities, a MRT platform designed to treat a human would consist of a clinical MRI scanner running special algorithms and upgraded to provide propulsion gradient...
In order to take full advantage of modern multiple-degree of freedom prosthetic limbs, robust and natural control signals are needed. Previous work has shown that beamforming provides a method to extract such signals from peripheral nerve activity. This paper describes in vivo experiments done to validate that method in a more realistic case. A 16-channel Flat Interface Nerve Electrode was used to...
Non-anthropomorphic wearable robots (WRs) give good grounds for expecting advantageous performances over traditional anthropomorphic solutions from both the standpoints of ergonomics and of the dynamical interaction with the human body. However, the kinematic design of non-anthropomorphic WRs can be too challenging for conventional synthesis methods, due to the large number of open design parameters...
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