Tremor constitutes the most common movement disorder; in fact 14.5% of population between 50 to 8... more Tremor constitutes the most common movement disorder; in fact 14.5% of population between 50 to 89 years old suffers from it. Moreover, 65% of patients with upper limb tremor report disability when performing their activities of daily living (ADL). Unfortunately, 25% of patients do not respond to drugs or neurosurgery. In this regard, TREMOR project proposes functional compensation of upper limb tremors with a soft wearable robot that applies biomechanical loads through functional electrical stimulation (FES) of muscles. This wearable robot is driven by a Brain Neural Computer Interface (BNCI). This paper presents a multimodal BCI to assess generation, transmission and execution of both volitional and tremorous movements based on electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG) and inertial sensors (IMUs). These signals are combined to obtain: 1) the intention to perform a voluntary movement from cortical activity (EEG), 2) tremor onset, and an estimation of tremor frequency from muscle activation (EMG), and 3) instantaneous tremor amplitude and frequency from kinematic measurements (IMUs). Integration of this information will provide control signals to drive the FES-based wearable robot.
This paper presents the results of clinical trials performed using two upper-limb orthotic device... more This paper presents the results of clinical trials performed using two upper-limb orthotic devices for tremor suppression, developed under the Fifth Framework Project DRIFTS (Contract QLK6-CT-2002-00536). The orthoses were tested on six subjects presenting various aetiological forms of tremor. Two different strategies of tremor reduction were investigated: viscous friction and notch filtering. The results obtained from the trials suggest that ambulatory and controllable mechanical suppression of tremor by orthotic means is a ...
Abstract-Tremorkapotenaauydisablingcondifion thehurna11limbisimpedancecontrolled. Ithasbeenshown,... more Abstract-Tremorkapotenaauydisablingcondifion thehurna11limbisimpedancecontrolled. Ithasbeenshown, that affects millions ofpeople worldwide. When that tIle Change in the impedance characteristics ofthe medication or surgery is not effective5 cornpensation upperhrnbhasadirecteffectonthetremorchara.... ofsuch symptoms is dirncult. The literature suggests
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2004. Proceedings. ICRA '04. 2004, 2004
The present paper address the analysis of Ultrasonic motors, UM, as driving technology in impedan... more The present paper address the analysis of Ultrasonic motors, UM, as driving technology in impedance controlled robotic manipulators. A focus is given on rehabilitation robotics as an emerging field in which impedance controlled approaches are more suited. The article gives some general remarks on impedance control, briefly introduces a UM driven miniature SCARA robot and describes a model of the manipulator and UM that serves the goal of gaining insight in the expected behavior of the controlled system. The experimental results and evaluation of UM as driving technology make use of a set of figures of merit previously defined. Eventually, some concluding remarks are given.
ABSTRACT Providing individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) tools to communicate and interact with th... more ABSTRACT Providing individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) tools to communicate and interact with the environment independently and reliably since childhood would allow for a more active participation in education and social life. We outline first steps towards the development of such a hybrid brain-computer interface-based (BCI) communication tool. http://castor.tugraz.at/doku/BCIMeeting2014/Proceedings_Graz_BCI_2014.pdf
Quantification of pathological tremor amplitude and frequency is fundamental for clinical diagnos... more Quantification of pathological tremor amplitude and frequency is fundamental for clinical diagnosis of neurological disorders and for robotics based-tremor suppression. In this work, a novel approach for real-time estimation of tremor amplitude and frequency using inertial sensors is presented. First, a miniaturized MEMS sensor is attached to the patient’s hand and calibrated with respect to it. This procedure permits to directly obtain wrist flexion/extension. Afterwards, a two stage algorithm for tremor estimation is implemented. It consists of a tracking algorithm that isolates tremorous movement, followed by an adaptive filter that estimates tremor parameters. The proposed technique has inherent zero phase, providing a tremor amplitude error of 0.3766 rad/s.
Tremor and other hyperkinetic movements (New York, N.Y.), 2012
Tremor is the most common movement disorder and strongly increases in incidence and prevalence wi... more Tremor is the most common movement disorder and strongly increases in incidence and prevalence with aging. Although not life threatening, upper-limb tremors hamper the independence of 65% of people suffering from them affected persons, greatly impacting their quality of life. Current treatments include pharmacotherapy and surgery (thalamotomy and deep brain stimulation). However, these options are not sufficient for approximately 25% of patients. Therefore, further research and new therapeutic options are required to effectively manage pathological tremor. This paper presents findings of two research projects in which two different wearable robots for tremor management were developed based on force loading and validated. The first consisted of a robotic exoskeleton that applied forces to tremulous limbs and consistently attenuated mild and severe tremors. The second was a neuroprosthesis based on transcutaneous neurostimulation. A total of 22 patients suffering from parkinsonian or ...
IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, 2007
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are revolutionizing a multitude of industries world wide, f... more Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are revolutionizing a multitude of industries world wide, from consumer products to the scientific community. Rehabilitation robotics is a robotic field specially interested in using the advantages of inertial sensors. The essential aspect in this area is the intrinsic interaction between human and robot, which imposes several restrictions in the design of this sort of robots. This
2014 36th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2014
In this paper we describe a novel method for sensor placement identification, and demonstrate the... more In this paper we describe a novel method for sensor placement identification, and demonstrate the effectiveness of this method on an upper limb neuroprothesis for tremor suppression under a variety of tasks. Our objective is to facilitate long-term tremor monitoring; tremor is the most prevalent movement disorder. Two assumptions are made: 1) movement and tremor demonstrate an additive effect further down the kinematic chain; 2) most applications have chained or fixed sensor locations. These assumptions justify obtaining absolute location through identifying relative location and thus to allow us to simplify the classification algorithm. Seventeen tasks were performed by patients suffering from essential tremor or Parkinson's disease. Ten features were found that resulted in 98.30% average accuracy (min: 92.31%; max: 100%) for the best configuration, irrespective of the task being performed. The method presented here is an important step towards more user-friendly and context-aware neuroprostheses for tremor suppression and monitoring, and facilitates the use of wearable sensors by non-trained personnel.
Tremor constitutes the most common movement disorder; in fact 14.5% of population between 50 to 8... more Tremor constitutes the most common movement disorder; in fact 14.5% of population between 50 to 89 years old suffers from it. Moreover, 65% of patients with upper limb tremor report disability when performing their activities of daily living (ADL). Unfortunately, 25% of patients do not respond to drugs or neurosurgery. In this regard, TREMOR project proposes functional compensation of upper limb tremors with a soft wearable robot that applies biomechanical loads through functional electrical stimulation (FES) of muscles. This wearable robot is driven by a Brain Neural Computer Interface (BNCI). This paper presents a multimodal BCI to assess generation, transmission and execution of both volitional and tremorous movements based on electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG) and inertial sensors (IMUs). These signals are combined to obtain: 1) the intention to perform a voluntary movement from cortical activity (EEG), 2) tremor onset, and an estimation of tremor frequency from muscle activation (EMG), and 3) instantaneous tremor amplitude and frequency from kinematic measurements (IMUs). Integration of this information will provide control signals to drive the FES-based wearable robot.
This paper presents the results of clinical trials performed using two upper-limb orthotic device... more This paper presents the results of clinical trials performed using two upper-limb orthotic devices for tremor suppression, developed under the Fifth Framework Project DRIFTS (Contract QLK6-CT-2002-00536). The orthoses were tested on six subjects presenting various aetiological forms of tremor. Two different strategies of tremor reduction were investigated: viscous friction and notch filtering. The results obtained from the trials suggest that ambulatory and controllable mechanical suppression of tremor by orthotic means is a ...
Abstract-Tremorkapotenaauydisablingcondifion thehurna11limbisimpedancecontrolled. Ithasbeenshown,... more Abstract-Tremorkapotenaauydisablingcondifion thehurna11limbisimpedancecontrolled. Ithasbeenshown, that affects millions ofpeople worldwide. When that tIle Change in the impedance characteristics ofthe medication or surgery is not effective5 cornpensation upperhrnbhasadirecteffectonthetremorchara.... ofsuch symptoms is dirncult. The literature suggests
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2004. Proceedings. ICRA '04. 2004, 2004
The present paper address the analysis of Ultrasonic motors, UM, as driving technology in impedan... more The present paper address the analysis of Ultrasonic motors, UM, as driving technology in impedance controlled robotic manipulators. A focus is given on rehabilitation robotics as an emerging field in which impedance controlled approaches are more suited. The article gives some general remarks on impedance control, briefly introduces a UM driven miniature SCARA robot and describes a model of the manipulator and UM that serves the goal of gaining insight in the expected behavior of the controlled system. The experimental results and evaluation of UM as driving technology make use of a set of figures of merit previously defined. Eventually, some concluding remarks are given.
ABSTRACT Providing individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) tools to communicate and interact with th... more ABSTRACT Providing individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) tools to communicate and interact with the environment independently and reliably since childhood would allow for a more active participation in education and social life. We outline first steps towards the development of such a hybrid brain-computer interface-based (BCI) communication tool. http://castor.tugraz.at/doku/BCIMeeting2014/Proceedings_Graz_BCI_2014.pdf
Quantification of pathological tremor amplitude and frequency is fundamental for clinical diagnos... more Quantification of pathological tremor amplitude and frequency is fundamental for clinical diagnosis of neurological disorders and for robotics based-tremor suppression. In this work, a novel approach for real-time estimation of tremor amplitude and frequency using inertial sensors is presented. First, a miniaturized MEMS sensor is attached to the patient’s hand and calibrated with respect to it. This procedure permits to directly obtain wrist flexion/extension. Afterwards, a two stage algorithm for tremor estimation is implemented. It consists of a tracking algorithm that isolates tremorous movement, followed by an adaptive filter that estimates tremor parameters. The proposed technique has inherent zero phase, providing a tremor amplitude error of 0.3766 rad/s.
Tremor and other hyperkinetic movements (New York, N.Y.), 2012
Tremor is the most common movement disorder and strongly increases in incidence and prevalence wi... more Tremor is the most common movement disorder and strongly increases in incidence and prevalence with aging. Although not life threatening, upper-limb tremors hamper the independence of 65% of people suffering from them affected persons, greatly impacting their quality of life. Current treatments include pharmacotherapy and surgery (thalamotomy and deep brain stimulation). However, these options are not sufficient for approximately 25% of patients. Therefore, further research and new therapeutic options are required to effectively manage pathological tremor. This paper presents findings of two research projects in which two different wearable robots for tremor management were developed based on force loading and validated. The first consisted of a robotic exoskeleton that applied forces to tremulous limbs and consistently attenuated mild and severe tremors. The second was a neuroprosthesis based on transcutaneous neurostimulation. A total of 22 patients suffering from parkinsonian or ...
IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, 2007
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are revolutionizing a multitude of industries world wide, f... more Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are revolutionizing a multitude of industries world wide, from consumer products to the scientific community. Rehabilitation robotics is a robotic field specially interested in using the advantages of inertial sensors. The essential aspect in this area is the intrinsic interaction between human and robot, which imposes several restrictions in the design of this sort of robots. This
2014 36th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2014
In this paper we describe a novel method for sensor placement identification, and demonstrate the... more In this paper we describe a novel method for sensor placement identification, and demonstrate the effectiveness of this method on an upper limb neuroprothesis for tremor suppression under a variety of tasks. Our objective is to facilitate long-term tremor monitoring; tremor is the most prevalent movement disorder. Two assumptions are made: 1) movement and tremor demonstrate an additive effect further down the kinematic chain; 2) most applications have chained or fixed sensor locations. These assumptions justify obtaining absolute location through identifying relative location and thus to allow us to simplify the classification algorithm. Seventeen tasks were performed by patients suffering from essential tremor or Parkinson's disease. Ten features were found that resulted in 98.30% average accuracy (min: 92.31%; max: 100%) for the best configuration, irrespective of the task being performed. The method presented here is an important step towards more user-friendly and context-aware neuroprostheses for tremor suppression and monitoring, and facilitates the use of wearable sensors by non-trained personnel.
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