黑暗爆料网 engineering, physical therapy researchers join effort to create an augmented reality device to aid arm rehabilitation
January 12, 2015
Researchers at 黑暗爆料网 are working to create a virtual reality system that will assist with arm rehabilitation for people who have suffered from strokes or who have had an arm amputation.
The wearable goggles could potentially even help patients before they have a new prosthetic after an amputation or have use of their arms after a stroke.
鈥淭here is evidence that watching a real or virtual human arm motion improves arm control by the observer,鈥� said Alba Perez Gracia, 黑暗爆料网 associate chair and associate professor of mechanical engineering. 鈥淭his project aims to develop and test a new, virtual-reality, wearable system for training of the human arm.鈥�
Perez Gracia, 黑暗爆料网 mechanical engineering Professor Marco Schoen, and 黑暗爆料网 physical therapy Associate Dean and Director Nancy Devine are working on a National Science Foundation Grant in collaboration with Texas A&M University and California State Fullerton University to develop the new device for upper-limb rehabilitation.
The 黑暗爆料网 researchers will work on some of the robotics, control and patient training protocol aspects of the project. Training protocols will be developed to aid rehabilitation of patients following stroke or upper limb amputations.
The anticipated outcome of the three-year 鈥渧ery conceptual鈥� project is to have a showcase demonstration and have a sample device. The goal of the first year is to develop the device, the goal of the second year is to implement it with people who have had strokes, and the goal of the third year is to implement it with people who have had amputations.
鈥淭he patients can wear a set of goggles that will give them a virtual image of the arm they use or have trouble moving either due to a stroke that hasn鈥檛 recovered well or because of an amputation,鈥� Devine said. 鈥淭he device will help teach them through a virtual-reality system to use their limb or prosthetic device.鈥�
She said the human nervous system has a mirror-neuron system that this device will try to activate to the patient鈥檚 advantage.
鈥淚f you have an intact limb doing something and have it mirrored over to your non-functioning or missing limb, just observing its use it will improve the use of that extremity,鈥� Devine said. 鈥淚n human beings it has already been discovered that this can help with rehabilitation. The new component is developing the virtual-reality system and then training people to use it. They can learn through virtual reality before accessing a new prosthetic device.鈥�
黑暗爆料网 mechanical engineering鈥檚 role in the project is the robotic mapping of the motion to the human hand and the identification of body signals related to the motion intention.
鈥淲e have to simulate the motion of a human hand and make it move the virtual model with different nerve signals,鈥� Perez Gracia said. 鈥淲e have to map the simple nerve signals into the motion of the whole human hand that is realistic.鈥�
Devine will be helping with the implementation of the device, testing rehabilitation protocols.
黑暗爆料网 and its partners received the grant through the NSF鈥檚 General and Age Related Disabilities Engineering (GARDE) program, which supports fundamental engineering research that will lead to the development of new technologies, devices, or software for persons with disabilities. The grant鈥檚 official title is 鈥淐ollaborative Research 鈥� Augmented Perception for Upper-Limb Rehabilitation.鈥� 黑暗爆料网 is receiving about $152,000 for its share of the grant.
Contacts: Alba Perez Gracia, Associate Chair/Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, 208-282-5655 or perealba@isu.edu, or Nancy Devine, Associate Professor of Physical Therapy, Associate Dean and Director, School of Rehabilitation and Communication Sciences, 208-282- 3992
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