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Multitendoned extrinsic muscles of the human hand can be divided into several neuromuscular compartments (NMCs), each of which contributes to the ability of human finger to produce independent finger movements or force. The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in the spatial activation of flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) during the fingertip force production with non-invasive multichannel...
Many well-known brain-computer interfaces measure signals at the brain, and then rely on the brain's ability to learn via operant conditioning in order to control objects in the environment. In our lab, we have been developing brain-muscle-computer interfaces, which measure signals at a single muscle and then rely on the brain's ability to learn neuromuscular skills via operant conditioning. Here,...
Proper ankle control is critical to both standing balance and efficient walking. This study hypothesized that a Flat Interface Nerve Electrode (FINE) placed around the sciatic nerve with a fixed number of contacts at predetermined locations and without a priori knowledge of the nerve's underlying neuroanatomy can selectively control each ankle motion. Models of the human sciatic nerve surrounded by...
The interference voltage at the terminals of a unipolar-type implantable cardiac pacemaker induced by a near-field intra-body communication device was investigated by numerical calculations. Operating frequency was assumed 5 MHz. The dependency of induced voltage on the electrical constants of a realistic human model was examined. The results showed that the induced voltage was inversely proportional...
An in-body path loss model in homogeneous human tissues is proposed based on 3D electromagnetic simulations and validated with measurements. Simulations are further extended for different relative permittivity and conductivity combinations spanning a range of human tissues at 2.45GHz, and the influence of the dielectric properties on path loss is investigated and modeled. Finally, path loss in homogeneous...
This paper presents a design of an anthropomorphic biomechatronic hand, focusing on the design of the fingers and its bio-inspired flexor-extensor like low-level control. The kinematic description, the detailed explanation and presentation of the 3D CAD design are included. The description of the applied 3D tactile and magnetic sensors are also detailed in the article. Matlab simulation results and...
We developed a passive exoskeleton that was designed to minimize joint work during walking. The exoskeleton makes use of passive structures, called artificial tendons, acting in parallel with the leg. Artificial tendons are elastic elements that are able to store and redistribute energy over the human leg joints. The elastic characteristics of the tendons have been optimized to minimize the mechanical...
In humanoid robotics, there is a long pursuit of making biped robots capable of walking in highly unstructured and roughly sensed environments. Within this goal, our objective is to develop a compliant bipedal humanoid robot that can move in these terrains as well as quickly adapt to unpredicted variations on the contact state. We present here the first part of our work, focusing on the design, construction...
An upper limb stroke rehabilitation system is developed which combines electrical stimulation with mechanical arm support, to assist patients performing 3D reaching tasks in a virtual reality environment. The Stimulation Assistance through Iterative Learning (SAIL) platform applies electrical stimulation to two muscles in the arm using model-based control schemes which learn from previous trials of...
We present the analysis of the planar manipulandum effects to the trajectory of point to point movements in horizontal plane. This analysis is of significance for the control of a haptic robot that can be used for the rehabilitation of hemiplegic patients. The effects were assessed by comparing data collected in experiments with healthy subjects when performing simple movements that are used in the...
Spinal circuits play an important role in the generation of rhythmic motor activity, intermediating between descending signals and peripheral sensory information. The study of these circuits can provide a better understanding of the control mechanisms during the execution of cyclic motor tasks in healthy subjects or in patients with motor deficits due to a neurological disease. This work shows preliminary...
The purpose of this study was to develop a body weight support gait training system for stroke and spinal cord injury (SCI) patient. This system consists of an orthosis powered by pneumatic McKibben actuators and a piece of equipment of body weight support. The attachment of powered orthosis can be fit to individual subjects with different body size. This powered orthosis is driven by pneumatic McKibben...
Introduction: Balance is negatively influenced by optokinetic stimuli. Fall research with these stimuli has been done with standing subjects. Less is known of the influence these stimuli have on risk of falling while walking. The objective of this study was to qualitatively investigate the influence of optokinetic roll stimuli on balance during walking.
During locomotion, motor strategies can rapidly compensate for any obstruction or perturbation that could interfere with forward progression. Here we studied the contribution of interlimb pathways for evoking muscle activation patterns in the case where body weight is externally supported and vestibular feedback is limited. The experiments were conducted using a novel device intended for gait therapy:...
Symmetric ankle propulsion is the cornerstone of efficient human walking. The ankle plantar flexors provide the majority of the mechanical work for the step-to-step transition and much of this work is delivered via elastic recoil from the Achilles' tendon — making it highly efficient. Even though the plantar flexors play a central role in propulsion, body-weight support and swing initiation during...
Motor synergies have been investigated since the 1980s as a simplifying paradigm of motor control by the nervous system. In particular, it is believed that they allow control of the highly redundant kinematic chain of the human hand by the central nervous system. Whereas so far the focus has been on kinematic synergies, that is common patterns in the motion of the hand and fingers, we hereby also...
In recent years advanced robotic technology has seen more use in the medical field to assist in the development of efficient training systems. Such training systems must fulfill the following criteria: they must provide quantitative information, must simulate the real-world conditions of the task, and assure training effectiveness. We developed Waseda Kyotokagaku Airway series to fulfill all of those...
In the past, the music community conducted research on what makes music more musical or expressive. Much of this work has focused on the manipulation of phrasing, articulation and rubato to make music more expressive. However, it has been difficult to study neuromuscular control used by experts to create such musical music. This paper took a first step toward this effort by using the Anatomically...
In recent, control approaches for the human-like behavior in the field of service robotics have been attracting considerable attention, since most humans or animals perform various tasks uncomplicatedly. Hence simple control methods based on gaining a physical insight into human reaching movement in redundancy of DOFs have been proposed. In comparison with the conventional approaches, the proposed...
The need of solving the problem of multi-degrees-of-freedom in motor control is increasing as human-like robots become more popular these days. Muscle synergies hypothesis is a prominent suggestion for this problem. In this paper, we investigated the muscle synergies extracted from human subjects in a producing-force task to explore the mechanism of the human's skillful hand-movement at producing...
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